Programs - 2021
A Toolbox for Aging in Community - Lonnie Stewart January 15, 2021 click here to open, click to close
We are grateful to Mahlon (MAY-len) Stewart, better known as Lonnie Stewart, for putting together this wonderful toolbox full of information to help us navigate the challenges of aging. He is President and Board Chair of Neighbor2Neighbor in Greenwich Village, an all-volunteer community group dedicated to supporting older adults to age-in-community in New York City’s Greenwich Village. He is also an Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation & Regenerative Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center where he serves as the Director of Clinical Education for Columbia’s Programs in Physical Therapy. He is a board-certified Geriatric Specialist, and he is in the midst of completing his PhD work which looks at the elements that support aging-in-community in the unique environment of New York City.
A Toolbox for Aging in Community
Lonnie's presentation will help you think through how to remain in your home, how to stay safe and strong, how to alert others if you do need help, and what supports are available in our community when you are faced with an advanced life event so that you can begin to understand and plan what to do in a crisis.
At the end of this summary you will find links to a PDF of the slides outlining his presentation, and a PDF of the Toolbox that includes the resources he spoke about in his presentation. Both of these are well worth downloading so that you will have them as you begin to explore this helpful information.
Here is a summary of what he covered in his presentation.
Life Changing Events
Although we may feel strong and healthy today, we need to realize that we are all vulnerable to unexpected Advanced Life Events. What are the Advanced Life Events that can impact your independence?
1. Hospitalization
2. Falls/Functional Loss
3. Dementia/Cognitive Loss
4. Spousal/Partner Illness or Loss
5. Home Upkeep Issues
When you are faced with an Advanced Life Event, it will be a very difficult time to make decisions about what to do next. It would be far better to think through the implications of these events now and feel that you have some understanding of how you will need to move ahead.
If you had to go to a rehabilitation facility or to a nursing home ("sub-acute rehabilitation") after hospitalization, where would you go - and what is the difference? Many of us have not known where to begin, but Lonnie's presentation gave us some tools so we could begin to find answers. Rehabilitation facilities and nursing homes have different goals. A rehabilitation facility's goal is to get you strong enough to be able to return home to live and function on your own. A nursing home is a long-term care facility with some services to help you maintain your level of function, but their primary purpose is to provide care for those who are not able to return home.
If you were hospitalized by illness, a fall or functional loss, you might be able to remain in your homes IF you have thought ahead about making your home accessible if you need a walker or wheelchair, or you are not able to climb stairs but need to sleep in an area that has access to a bathroom.
Section 1:
Websites about planning for the unexpected
Learn about rehabilitation centers, nursing homes, and home healthcare in our area:
Plan Your Life Span
An informative and thoughtful web-based planning tool (and source of valuable information) where you can record important choices for your care that results in a printable instruction sheet to share with your emergency contacts. You can indicate choices such as where you would prefer to have rehabilitation after a hospitalization, a home care agency you would prefer should you require care at home. Plan Your Life Span includes a good section on how to talk with your family about your plans, and a section where you can write down who would take care of your pets, manage your bills, etc.
Website: http://planyourlifespan.org
Rockland County Office for the Aging
Website: http://rocklandgov.com/departments/aging/
New York State Office for the Aging
Website: https://aging.ny.gov/
NY Connects
Free, unbiased information about long term services and supports in New York State for people of all ages or with any type of disability. Long term services and supports include medical and non-medical services a person needs to improve or maintain health and independence. They may be provided in a nursing home, the individual’s home or other community-based settings. You can use this directory to search for programs, providers, and services in your area and to contact your local NY Connects office for further assistance.
Website: https://www.nyconnects.ny.gov/welcome
Medicare Nursing Home, Compare
Make informed decisions about the quality of Nursing Homes (Skilled Nursing Facilities or SNFs) in your area. Medicare assigns rankings of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) stars for Overall Rating, health inspections, staffing, and quality measures. Enter your Zip code and search in your area. Note that friends may also have helpful information.
Website: https://www.medicare.gov/NursingHomeCompare/search.html
Home Care Association of America
Trade association of the home care industry. While we recommend consulting with a social worker to work with a reputable company, we do encourage calling and asking questions about costs for services and getting an idea of how the company might work with you.
Website: http://www.hcaoa.org
Section 2:
Finances
Examples of what Medicare pays for:
Physical Therapy (with limits on the number of days)
Medical Equipment (e.g. canes, walkers, handrails, bedrails)
Skills Nursing Facility (after a qualifying hospital stay)
Examples of what state agencies on aging can provide:
Many of these can be found on the Rockland County Office for the Aging website listed above
Low price meal options such as Meals on Wheels
Part-time housekeepers (non-medical)
Transportation to doctor visits
Care Coordination and Social Work Services
Examples of “out of pocket” costs:
24-hour caregivers
Retirement community living
Long term care in a nursing home
Section 3:
Memory Loss & Alzheimer's make daily tasks more difficult
Remembering medications
Paying bills and managing finances
Driving
Daily activities - cooking, cleaning, laundry
Home upkeep
Section 4:
Medical ID and electronic alert systems
MedicAlert Foundation (non-profit)
Different levels of membership and a wide range of medical ID jewelry to connect emergency medical providers to your important health history and information. Three level of membership (Basic: $25/year; Advantage: $50/year; Advantage Plus: $75/year). Basic level includes storage of your personal Emergency Health Record, the ability to print your personal profile for doctor’s visits, and 24/7 emergency response team that provides critical information to first responders. Advantage level includes “wandering support” and notification of an emergency contact. Advantage Plus level allows you to store important documents including care directives and notifies your physician that an event has occurred.
MedicAlert also partners with Phillips Lifeline with communication technology that calls for help at the press of a button.
Website: https://www.medicalert.org
Philips Lifeline
Philips offers two systems that call for immediate help after pressing a button on a pendant (and in some cases a wristband).
The HomeSafe system has an in-home communicator with a wristband or pendant (HomeSafe Standard: $30/month and a one-time $50 activation fee; HomeSafe with AutoAlert: $45/month and a one-time $50 activation fee).
The GoSafe system can be used at and away from home (GoSafe 2: $50/month plus a one-time device fee of $100; or GoSafe $55/month plus a one-time device fee of $150). Both systems use landline and cellular technology.
If you fall or need help at home, you can communicate with the base station by voice (as long as you are within speaking range of the base station). Some pendants have AutoAlert Fall detection. GoSafe 2 system is a pendant that has two-way communication built in.
Website: https://www.lifeline.philips.com
AskMyBuddy.net
An alternative to Philips Lifeline. This is an app that is used with a personal assistant like Amazon Echo or Google Home or Cortana that can alert a group of trusted friends that you need help. This requires that you have a digital assistant like Amazon Echo (Alexa) ($50-$150), and that you set up the app, Ask My Buddy. If you fall or need help, you say the command, “Alexa, ask my buddy for help,” (or you can specify: “Alexa, ask my buddy for help, I fell down and I’m hurt”) and your the friends that you put on your list automatically receive an automated phone call, a text, and an e-mail that you need help. THIS DOES NOT CALL 911. But this is another option that may cost less than other options. You may also need more than one digital assistant so at least one can hear you when you need help.
Website: https://askmybuddy.net
Amazon Echo and other digital assistants are sold online
File of Life
This nonprofit organization provides cards and red envelopes where you can keep your vital information on your refrigerator in case of emergency. Go to https://www.folife.org/
Section 5:
Tips about protecting yourself from falls
Fall Prevention Information
Remove small rugs from your floors. Secure the edges and corners of other rugs to the floor so you don't trip on them. Install grab bars in your bathroom(s). They now come in attractive designs.
Often when older people fall, they cannot get up again. Try this: Be close to something you can hold onto to get off the floor. We don’t want you stuck down there! Now try crawling a few feet away and then come back. If your knees hurt too much for you to crawl, try rolling.
Here is an article from the CDC on older adults and falls and includes some excellent resources:
Website: https://www.cdc.gov/injury/features/older-adult-falls/index.html
Night Lights
Falls can occur when you try to move around in dark rooms at night. The idea is to find a nightlight that casts light on your pathway and not directly into your eyes. You want to avoid nightlights that glare as eyes have difficulty adjusting from dark to light and back to dark again. Products to consider:
SnapPower Guidelight 2 which comes in several different configurations for different sized outlets and light switches. SnapPower replaces the faceplate of your outlet, turns on automatically when the home or apartment is dark, and casts a light from the bottom of the plate. Slightly more expensive, and require taking off the original faceplate and screwing in a new one. You also need to make sure you are ordering the correct plate that goes with your outlet.
EmotionLite makes plug-in night lights that swivel 360 degrees to accommodate any outlet orientation – and allows you to point the light in a direction that you desire. They turn on and off automatically when the home or apartment darkens.
Section 6:
End-of-Life Decisions
New York State: Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST)
Highly-detailed instructions for end-of-life care. Requires signature of a doctor or nurse practitioner. Typically used when one is entering a period where end-of-life is a concern, as opposed to an Advanced Directive which is usually created far beforehand.
Website: https://www.health.ny.gov/professionals/patients/patient_rights/molst/
Section 7:
Summary of the Major Points
1. Use “Plan My Lifespan” – It is better to think about these options now rather than during a crisis.
2. Share your thoughts with people who are likely to be in a position to help you
3. Or – have your instructions in a place where they can be found
4. Set up as many “automatic” systems or notification systems to help as you can for things like paying bills and keeping track of appointments.
5. Envision what you want and work bit by bit to make it a reality
6. Small changes can make a big difference.
Section 8:
Here are the links to PDFs of the Toolbox for Aging in Community presentation and to the Toolbox Resources
A Toolbox for Aging in Community
Lonnie's presentation will help you think through how to remain in your home, how to stay safe and strong, how to alert others if you do need help, and what supports are available in our community when you are faced with an advanced life event so that you can begin to understand and plan what to do in a crisis.
At the end of this summary you will find links to a PDF of the slides outlining his presentation, and a PDF of the Toolbox that includes the resources he spoke about in his presentation. Both of these are well worth downloading so that you will have them as you begin to explore this helpful information.
Here is a summary of what he covered in his presentation.
Life Changing Events
Although we may feel strong and healthy today, we need to realize that we are all vulnerable to unexpected Advanced Life Events. What are the Advanced Life Events that can impact your independence?
1. Hospitalization
2. Falls/Functional Loss
3. Dementia/Cognitive Loss
4. Spousal/Partner Illness or Loss
5. Home Upkeep Issues
When you are faced with an Advanced Life Event, it will be a very difficult time to make decisions about what to do next. It would be far better to think through the implications of these events now and feel that you have some understanding of how you will need to move ahead.
If you had to go to a rehabilitation facility or to a nursing home ("sub-acute rehabilitation") after hospitalization, where would you go - and what is the difference? Many of us have not known where to begin, but Lonnie's presentation gave us some tools so we could begin to find answers. Rehabilitation facilities and nursing homes have different goals. A rehabilitation facility's goal is to get you strong enough to be able to return home to live and function on your own. A nursing home is a long-term care facility with some services to help you maintain your level of function, but their primary purpose is to provide care for those who are not able to return home.
If you were hospitalized by illness, a fall or functional loss, you might be able to remain in your homes IF you have thought ahead about making your home accessible if you need a walker or wheelchair, or you are not able to climb stairs but need to sleep in an area that has access to a bathroom.
Section 1:
Websites about planning for the unexpected
Learn about rehabilitation centers, nursing homes, and home healthcare in our area:
Plan Your Life Span
An informative and thoughtful web-based planning tool (and source of valuable information) where you can record important choices for your care that results in a printable instruction sheet to share with your emergency contacts. You can indicate choices such as where you would prefer to have rehabilitation after a hospitalization, a home care agency you would prefer should you require care at home. Plan Your Life Span includes a good section on how to talk with your family about your plans, and a section where you can write down who would take care of your pets, manage your bills, etc.
Website: http://planyourlifespan.org
Rockland County Office for the Aging
Website: http://rocklandgov.com/departments/aging/
New York State Office for the Aging
Website: https://aging.ny.gov/
NY Connects
Free, unbiased information about long term services and supports in New York State for people of all ages or with any type of disability. Long term services and supports include medical and non-medical services a person needs to improve or maintain health and independence. They may be provided in a nursing home, the individual’s home or other community-based settings. You can use this directory to search for programs, providers, and services in your area and to contact your local NY Connects office for further assistance.
Website: https://www.nyconnects.ny.gov/welcome
Medicare Nursing Home, Compare
Make informed decisions about the quality of Nursing Homes (Skilled Nursing Facilities or SNFs) in your area. Medicare assigns rankings of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) stars for Overall Rating, health inspections, staffing, and quality measures. Enter your Zip code and search in your area. Note that friends may also have helpful information.
Website: https://www.medicare.gov/NursingHomeCompare/search.html
Home Care Association of America
Trade association of the home care industry. While we recommend consulting with a social worker to work with a reputable company, we do encourage calling and asking questions about costs for services and getting an idea of how the company might work with you.
Website: http://www.hcaoa.org
Section 2:
Finances
Examples of what Medicare pays for:
Physical Therapy (with limits on the number of days)
Medical Equipment (e.g. canes, walkers, handrails, bedrails)
Skills Nursing Facility (after a qualifying hospital stay)
Examples of what state agencies on aging can provide:
Many of these can be found on the Rockland County Office for the Aging website listed above
Low price meal options such as Meals on Wheels
Part-time housekeepers (non-medical)
Transportation to doctor visits
Care Coordination and Social Work Services
Examples of “out of pocket” costs:
24-hour caregivers
Retirement community living
Long term care in a nursing home
Section 3:
Memory Loss & Alzheimer's make daily tasks more difficult
Remembering medications
Paying bills and managing finances
Driving
Daily activities - cooking, cleaning, laundry
Home upkeep
Section 4:
Medical ID and electronic alert systems
MedicAlert Foundation (non-profit)
Different levels of membership and a wide range of medical ID jewelry to connect emergency medical providers to your important health history and information. Three level of membership (Basic: $25/year; Advantage: $50/year; Advantage Plus: $75/year). Basic level includes storage of your personal Emergency Health Record, the ability to print your personal profile for doctor’s visits, and 24/7 emergency response team that provides critical information to first responders. Advantage level includes “wandering support” and notification of an emergency contact. Advantage Plus level allows you to store important documents including care directives and notifies your physician that an event has occurred.
MedicAlert also partners with Phillips Lifeline with communication technology that calls for help at the press of a button.
Website: https://www.medicalert.org
Philips Lifeline
Philips offers two systems that call for immediate help after pressing a button on a pendant (and in some cases a wristband).
The HomeSafe system has an in-home communicator with a wristband or pendant (HomeSafe Standard: $30/month and a one-time $50 activation fee; HomeSafe with AutoAlert: $45/month and a one-time $50 activation fee).
The GoSafe system can be used at and away from home (GoSafe 2: $50/month plus a one-time device fee of $100; or GoSafe $55/month plus a one-time device fee of $150). Both systems use landline and cellular technology.
If you fall or need help at home, you can communicate with the base station by voice (as long as you are within speaking range of the base station). Some pendants have AutoAlert Fall detection. GoSafe 2 system is a pendant that has two-way communication built in.
Website: https://www.lifeline.philips.com
AskMyBuddy.net
An alternative to Philips Lifeline. This is an app that is used with a personal assistant like Amazon Echo or Google Home or Cortana that can alert a group of trusted friends that you need help. This requires that you have a digital assistant like Amazon Echo (Alexa) ($50-$150), and that you set up the app, Ask My Buddy. If you fall or need help, you say the command, “Alexa, ask my buddy for help,” (or you can specify: “Alexa, ask my buddy for help, I fell down and I’m hurt”) and your the friends that you put on your list automatically receive an automated phone call, a text, and an e-mail that you need help. THIS DOES NOT CALL 911. But this is another option that may cost less than other options. You may also need more than one digital assistant so at least one can hear you when you need help.
Website: https://askmybuddy.net
Amazon Echo and other digital assistants are sold online
File of Life
This nonprofit organization provides cards and red envelopes where you can keep your vital information on your refrigerator in case of emergency. Go to https://www.folife.org/
Section 5:
Tips about protecting yourself from falls
Fall Prevention Information
Remove small rugs from your floors. Secure the edges and corners of other rugs to the floor so you don't trip on them. Install grab bars in your bathroom(s). They now come in attractive designs.
Often when older people fall, they cannot get up again. Try this: Be close to something you can hold onto to get off the floor. We don’t want you stuck down there! Now try crawling a few feet away and then come back. If your knees hurt too much for you to crawl, try rolling.
Here is an article from the CDC on older adults and falls and includes some excellent resources:
Website: https://www.cdc.gov/injury/features/older-adult-falls/index.html
Night Lights
Falls can occur when you try to move around in dark rooms at night. The idea is to find a nightlight that casts light on your pathway and not directly into your eyes. You want to avoid nightlights that glare as eyes have difficulty adjusting from dark to light and back to dark again. Products to consider:
SnapPower Guidelight 2 which comes in several different configurations for different sized outlets and light switches. SnapPower replaces the faceplate of your outlet, turns on automatically when the home or apartment is dark, and casts a light from the bottom of the plate. Slightly more expensive, and require taking off the original faceplate and screwing in a new one. You also need to make sure you are ordering the correct plate that goes with your outlet.
EmotionLite makes plug-in night lights that swivel 360 degrees to accommodate any outlet orientation – and allows you to point the light in a direction that you desire. They turn on and off automatically when the home or apartment darkens.
Section 6:
End-of-Life Decisions
New York State: Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST)
Highly-detailed instructions for end-of-life care. Requires signature of a doctor or nurse practitioner. Typically used when one is entering a period where end-of-life is a concern, as opposed to an Advanced Directive which is usually created far beforehand.
Website: https://www.health.ny.gov/professionals/patients/patient_rights/molst/
Section 7:
Summary of the Major Points
1. Use “Plan My Lifespan” – It is better to think about these options now rather than during a crisis.
2. Share your thoughts with people who are likely to be in a position to help you
3. Or – have your instructions in a place where they can be found
4. Set up as many “automatic” systems or notification systems to help as you can for things like paying bills and keeping track of appointments.
5. Envision what you want and work bit by bit to make it a reality
6. Small changes can make a big difference.
Section 8:
Here are the links to PDFs of the Toolbox for Aging in Community presentation and to the Toolbox Resources
Celebrating Friendships - Martha Gabriel and members of CAN Feb. 12, 2021 click to open, click to close
This celebration occurs as we are struggling to emerge from a world pandemic, on the day after National Make a Friend Day and two days before St. Valentine’s Day – a day for celebrating attachment, connection and love. Our presentation includes music, poems, and short vignettes about friendships, whether they be close friends, old friends, new friends or lost friends.
Friendship is considered one of the most powerful emotional and intellectual bonds we have with one another, contributing to our emotional and physical well-being in significant ways. A range of relationships constitute friendships: someone you have known most of your life; someone you speak to everyday; someone you hardly see or have not spoken to in years; or friends you met recently and those you have never met in real time. These powerful connections differ in a variety of ways. The major one is gender. In relationships women talk more, talk more often, at greater length and about more personal topics than men. Men by and large talk less and often about shared activities. So today we hope to learn more about your friendships and your thoughts about friendship after listening to music, poetry and personal vignettes.
A CAN Friendship with Arlene Leventhal and Mary Borkowvitz
Arlene Leventhal on her friendship with Mary Borkovitz
I first met Mary when she hosted a potluck dinner for CAN members. She liked my gazpacho, and we all had a lovely evening there. We soon learned of our mutual interests in music. She was an impresario & arranged concerts in Bucks County, her previous home. I played the piano in my youth, my husband had played the violin, our daughters the flute & piano (although I was an art student, not a musician at the High School of Music & Art). My late husband & I were involved with a wonderful non-profit group called Friends of Music in Tarrytown, now Sleepy Hollow, which for over 60 years has brought the best chamber music 6x a year. Mary attended a few of these with me & we also went to other concerts. I helped her form a fiction book group at the Nyack Library. We both miss all the meetings, clubs, and concerts and hope to be able to restart them again!
Mary Borkovitz on her friendship with Arlene
After moving here from Bucks County Pa, the most important thing to do was to find new friends and what better way than to join CAN. I was fortunate to meet Arlene, who had the same love of music that I had and we enjoyed attending many concerts together. But most important in a friendship is just to "like each other”, which we both do.
Arlene is an extremely creative person, a wonderful aspect of her nature, which fits right in with my love for the Arts. Her help with starting up a new Book Club was very indicative of her generosity. We are both looking forward to resuming our friendship through these activities in the very near future.
New Old Friends
Written and read by Gail Monaco
I am old and have a friend that’s new
and that new, old friend is you
who knew at 82, I coulda, woulda
met a one like you.
You are smart and quick
and thin as a rod
I am fumbly and mumbly
and shaped kind of odd.
You say: Don’t dwell on the past
that die has been cast
and the future, let it go
there’s nothing to know
We are so different, you quip
so unlike at the core
how wonderful such differences
have opened this door
You muse and you chatter
and jump in without thought
I ponder and worry
and often seem taut.
We talk joys and troubles
politics and prose
we laugh with abandon
about what . . . God only knows.
Now, new old friend, it’s about time to share
share you with old friends so dear and so rare
you will love them, I think, well at least one or two
Regardless of that, they will surely love you.
I know they will say: old friend
so glad that you knew
that even old, old friends
need new, old friends too.
New Friendship Story – Chance Encounter
Written and read by Jan Cohen
At the end of March 2001, I was taking a flight out of JFK to Fort Lauderdale to meet one of my clients, Office Depot, headquartered in Boca Raton, FL and had a “chance encounter”. Glad I got my window seat on the plane early so I could close my eyes and relax. Another professional woman had the aisle seat in my row. Seemed like she was glad to be able to relax, too. Once all passengers were loaded, doors closed, we heard a crying child having a meltdown in the row behind and across from us. I said to her, “They need to give that kid some drugs to shut him up, he’s really getting on my third nerve!
Colleen was a mother of two and knew what the mother was feeling. We discussed quieting options as the kid carried on, screaming louder & louder. The flight attendant communicated captain’s instructions to mother; she had 10 minutes to quiet child or vacate to next flight. Somehow the mother quieted the child. Thank G-d!
Colleen was also a professional woman. She worked for various magazine publications, like Bon Appetite & others, headquartered in NYC. She sold advertising space in these publications to companies in Florida. Colleen was very smart and successful. Her husband was a lawyer from Pittsburgh and had just undergone knee surgery there and was recuperating. I was from Pittsburgh and had ACL Reconstruction on my left knee too. The more we talked the more we found common ground. We talked about healing and spirituality. She raved about a book called “Kitchen Table Wisdom, Stories that Heal” by Rachel Naomi Remen, MD. We had a most enjoyable time, talked the entire trip and wished each other well as we exchanged business cards.
On April 4, 2001, I received a package from Colleen: a copy of the book with a lovely note saying she thought I would enjoy the spiritual beauty of these stories. She also said to contact her when I had free time on my next trip to Florida. I did, and she would let me know when she was coming to NY so we could meet. We continue to talk every few months. She even developed a relationship with my Mom when she became a snowbird after my dad passed.
Little Dog’s Rhapsody in the Night
by Mary Oliver, read by Mary Mathews
He puts his cheek against mine
and makes small, expressive sounds
And when I’m awake, or awake enough
he turns upside down, his four paws
in the air
and his eyes dark and fervent.
Tell me you love me, he says.
Tell me again.
Could there be a sweeter arrangement? Over and over
he gets to ask it.
I get to tell.
Friendship with Randall
by Tom Willingham
I met my friend Randall in the summer of 1972. I was coming out of a background of having grown up in a conservative Southern Baptist background and was generally headed toward going into some form of ministry. Randall and I were colleagues working in a community action program in the mountains of western NC. Randall was seven years older than me, and he had already been to seminary, had worked in ministry, had become disillusioned with it, and dropped out. Randall had already been where I was heading, so our friendship formed around his disillusionment and my idealistic aspirations.
It was with Randall that I drank my first beer. Since I had come from a culture in which drinking alcohol was completely forbidden, here I found myself with someone who seemed to be a good person, a respectable person, even a person of faith, but who thought and acted in ways that I had believed were wrong. Through many long evenings, and not a few beers, I began to realize that the world was much bigger and more diverse than I could have imagined. My world, my thinking, and indeed my faith began to grow and rather than working to stay on a “straight and narrow” path, I began to see the world and faith as an opportunity in which to grow and explore rather than live in fear and constraint.
Owing much to my relationship with Randall, I began to see God as an invitation to life, not as a threat to condemnation. After those two years together in NC, I went on to graduate from a seminary in New York City where the culture was diverse and pluralistic. I was ordained in the United Church of Christ, and worked and hospital chaplaincy and pastoral counseling. My greatest joy as a counselor was to assist people whose faith was stifling them in discovering a God who is liberating.
Randall has continued to live in NC and we have corresponded and visited over the years since then. A mark of our friendship is that is that when we see each other we pick up right where we last left off.
Through Thick and Thin
by Annie Hall, Read by Rosa Hudson
I could skip a heartbeat, and I would survive.
I could be in a car crash and still be alive.
The clouds could fall out of the sky.
The oceans could disappear and all turn dry.
These things in life are all bad, I know,
but there's far worse things, just thought you should know.
Life would not be the same without someone like you.
You're there when I need you to help me through.
Through the good times and through the bad,
Be them happy or be them sad.
I don't have to be with you to know you're there.
We don't have to see each other to know that we care.
We could be apart for years upon end
and still remain the best of friends.
Life goes on, and people change,
And through it all, our friendship shall remain the same.
That's such as life and how things come to be.
Just thought you should know how much you mean to me!
Concluding Remarks by Marti Gabriel
Like many of you, I watched as people expressed their gratitude to first responders and service workers at various periods during the height of the pandemic by applauding them, playing music for them, shouting out their thank you(s) and banging on pots and pans. Most of us have been in awe and humbled by the enormous and selfless efforts of strangers on behalf of others. While we at our house have not yet needed the services of first responders, we certainly have relied on the graciousness of neighbors, old and new friends, and all manner of service workers. So, it is with more than a “little help from our friends” that we are weathering and hopefully, helping others to weather, this COVID nightmare. This little production was our way of saying THANK YOU for being our new and old Friends!!
Friendship is considered one of the most powerful emotional and intellectual bonds we have with one another, contributing to our emotional and physical well-being in significant ways. A range of relationships constitute friendships: someone you have known most of your life; someone you speak to everyday; someone you hardly see or have not spoken to in years; or friends you met recently and those you have never met in real time. These powerful connections differ in a variety of ways. The major one is gender. In relationships women talk more, talk more often, at greater length and about more personal topics than men. Men by and large talk less and often about shared activities. So today we hope to learn more about your friendships and your thoughts about friendship after listening to music, poetry and personal vignettes.
A CAN Friendship with Arlene Leventhal and Mary Borkowvitz
Arlene Leventhal on her friendship with Mary Borkovitz
I first met Mary when she hosted a potluck dinner for CAN members. She liked my gazpacho, and we all had a lovely evening there. We soon learned of our mutual interests in music. She was an impresario & arranged concerts in Bucks County, her previous home. I played the piano in my youth, my husband had played the violin, our daughters the flute & piano (although I was an art student, not a musician at the High School of Music & Art). My late husband & I were involved with a wonderful non-profit group called Friends of Music in Tarrytown, now Sleepy Hollow, which for over 60 years has brought the best chamber music 6x a year. Mary attended a few of these with me & we also went to other concerts. I helped her form a fiction book group at the Nyack Library. We both miss all the meetings, clubs, and concerts and hope to be able to restart them again!
Mary Borkovitz on her friendship with Arlene
After moving here from Bucks County Pa, the most important thing to do was to find new friends and what better way than to join CAN. I was fortunate to meet Arlene, who had the same love of music that I had and we enjoyed attending many concerts together. But most important in a friendship is just to "like each other”, which we both do.
Arlene is an extremely creative person, a wonderful aspect of her nature, which fits right in with my love for the Arts. Her help with starting up a new Book Club was very indicative of her generosity. We are both looking forward to resuming our friendship through these activities in the very near future.
New Old Friends
Written and read by Gail Monaco
I am old and have a friend that’s new
and that new, old friend is you
who knew at 82, I coulda, woulda
met a one like you.
You are smart and quick
and thin as a rod
I am fumbly and mumbly
and shaped kind of odd.
You say: Don’t dwell on the past
that die has been cast
and the future, let it go
there’s nothing to know
We are so different, you quip
so unlike at the core
how wonderful such differences
have opened this door
You muse and you chatter
and jump in without thought
I ponder and worry
and often seem taut.
We talk joys and troubles
politics and prose
we laugh with abandon
about what . . . God only knows.
Now, new old friend, it’s about time to share
share you with old friends so dear and so rare
you will love them, I think, well at least one or two
Regardless of that, they will surely love you.
I know they will say: old friend
so glad that you knew
that even old, old friends
need new, old friends too.
New Friendship Story – Chance Encounter
Written and read by Jan Cohen
At the end of March 2001, I was taking a flight out of JFK to Fort Lauderdale to meet one of my clients, Office Depot, headquartered in Boca Raton, FL and had a “chance encounter”. Glad I got my window seat on the plane early so I could close my eyes and relax. Another professional woman had the aisle seat in my row. Seemed like she was glad to be able to relax, too. Once all passengers were loaded, doors closed, we heard a crying child having a meltdown in the row behind and across from us. I said to her, “They need to give that kid some drugs to shut him up, he’s really getting on my third nerve!
Colleen was a mother of two and knew what the mother was feeling. We discussed quieting options as the kid carried on, screaming louder & louder. The flight attendant communicated captain’s instructions to mother; she had 10 minutes to quiet child or vacate to next flight. Somehow the mother quieted the child. Thank G-d!
Colleen was also a professional woman. She worked for various magazine publications, like Bon Appetite & others, headquartered in NYC. She sold advertising space in these publications to companies in Florida. Colleen was very smart and successful. Her husband was a lawyer from Pittsburgh and had just undergone knee surgery there and was recuperating. I was from Pittsburgh and had ACL Reconstruction on my left knee too. The more we talked the more we found common ground. We talked about healing and spirituality. She raved about a book called “Kitchen Table Wisdom, Stories that Heal” by Rachel Naomi Remen, MD. We had a most enjoyable time, talked the entire trip and wished each other well as we exchanged business cards.
On April 4, 2001, I received a package from Colleen: a copy of the book with a lovely note saying she thought I would enjoy the spiritual beauty of these stories. She also said to contact her when I had free time on my next trip to Florida. I did, and she would let me know when she was coming to NY so we could meet. We continue to talk every few months. She even developed a relationship with my Mom when she became a snowbird after my dad passed.
Little Dog’s Rhapsody in the Night
by Mary Oliver, read by Mary Mathews
He puts his cheek against mine
and makes small, expressive sounds
And when I’m awake, or awake enough
he turns upside down, his four paws
in the air
and his eyes dark and fervent.
Tell me you love me, he says.
Tell me again.
Could there be a sweeter arrangement? Over and over
he gets to ask it.
I get to tell.
Friendship with Randall
by Tom Willingham
I met my friend Randall in the summer of 1972. I was coming out of a background of having grown up in a conservative Southern Baptist background and was generally headed toward going into some form of ministry. Randall and I were colleagues working in a community action program in the mountains of western NC. Randall was seven years older than me, and he had already been to seminary, had worked in ministry, had become disillusioned with it, and dropped out. Randall had already been where I was heading, so our friendship formed around his disillusionment and my idealistic aspirations.
It was with Randall that I drank my first beer. Since I had come from a culture in which drinking alcohol was completely forbidden, here I found myself with someone who seemed to be a good person, a respectable person, even a person of faith, but who thought and acted in ways that I had believed were wrong. Through many long evenings, and not a few beers, I began to realize that the world was much bigger and more diverse than I could have imagined. My world, my thinking, and indeed my faith began to grow and rather than working to stay on a “straight and narrow” path, I began to see the world and faith as an opportunity in which to grow and explore rather than live in fear and constraint.
Owing much to my relationship with Randall, I began to see God as an invitation to life, not as a threat to condemnation. After those two years together in NC, I went on to graduate from a seminary in New York City where the culture was diverse and pluralistic. I was ordained in the United Church of Christ, and worked and hospital chaplaincy and pastoral counseling. My greatest joy as a counselor was to assist people whose faith was stifling them in discovering a God who is liberating.
Randall has continued to live in NC and we have corresponded and visited over the years since then. A mark of our friendship is that is that when we see each other we pick up right where we last left off.
Through Thick and Thin
by Annie Hall, Read by Rosa Hudson
I could skip a heartbeat, and I would survive.
I could be in a car crash and still be alive.
The clouds could fall out of the sky.
The oceans could disappear and all turn dry.
These things in life are all bad, I know,
but there's far worse things, just thought you should know.
Life would not be the same without someone like you.
You're there when I need you to help me through.
Through the good times and through the bad,
Be them happy or be them sad.
I don't have to be with you to know you're there.
We don't have to see each other to know that we care.
We could be apart for years upon end
and still remain the best of friends.
Life goes on, and people change,
And through it all, our friendship shall remain the same.
That's such as life and how things come to be.
Just thought you should know how much you mean to me!
Concluding Remarks by Marti Gabriel
Like many of you, I watched as people expressed their gratitude to first responders and service workers at various periods during the height of the pandemic by applauding them, playing music for them, shouting out their thank you(s) and banging on pots and pans. Most of us have been in awe and humbled by the enormous and selfless efforts of strangers on behalf of others. While we at our house have not yet needed the services of first responders, we certainly have relied on the graciousness of neighbors, old and new friends, and all manner of service workers. So, it is with more than a “little help from our friends” that we are weathering and hopefully, helping others to weather, this COVID nightmare. This little production was our way of saying THANK YOU for being our new and old Friends!!
Continuous Care Retirement Communities (CCRC) March 12, 2021 click to open, click to close
What is a Continuing Care Retirement Community?
Wikipedia describes it this way: A continuing care retirement community (CCRC) is a type of retirement community in the U.S. where a continuum of aging care needs—from independent living, assisted living, and skilled nursing care—can all be met within the community. These various levels of shelter and care may be housed on different floors or wings of a single high-rise building or in physically adjacent buildings, such as garden apartments, cottages, duplexes, mid- and low-rise buildings, or spread out in a campus setting. The emphasis of the CCRC model is to enable residents to avoid having to move, except to another level of care within the community, if their needs change.
Variation among CCRCs
THE BUY-IN
Most CCRCs require an entrance fee or a lump sum buy-in for independent living. The amount paid at the beginning guarantees the resident’s right to live at the CCRC for the rest of their life.
The CCRC may allow you to get a partial refund for up to 48 months at the beginning, or it may agree to refund 50% to 90% of your lump sum at any time, either to you or to your heirs. But you will pay a much higher price at the beginning if you want you or your heirs to get 90% of the original lump sum back when you leave or when you die.
MONTHLY FEES
The monthly fees can range from below $4,000 a month to over $6,000 with an extra charge for a second person. Monthly fees usually include 1 meal per day so you’ll need to shop for groceries or buy additional meals. Annual increases of monthly fees are usually 3 to 4 percent.
EXTRA FEES
May be extra at some facilities e.g.. parking, exercise classes, local transportation, guests, etc. and may be increased.
TYPES OF CONTRACTS
TYPE A
TYPE C
DEVELOP YOUR CRITERIA FOR DECISION MAKING
What is important to you? Prioritize. Which are deal breakers?
LOCATION
THINGS TO ASK; THINGS TO NOTICE
PLACES WE VISITED
1. KENDAL ON HUDSON, Sleepy Hollow, NY
2. CEDAR CREST, Pompton Plains, NJ
3. SEABROOK, Tinton Fall, NJ (near Asbury Park)
4. THE KNOLLS, Valhalla, NY
5. WATERMARK AT EAST HILL, Southbury, CT
VIRTUAL TOUR:
6. COLLINGTON : A Kendal Affiliate near Washington, D.C.
RESOURCES FOR EXPLORING CCRCs
This resource is very helpful for understanding costs:
https://www.humangood.org/resources/senior-living-blog/new-guide-understanding-the-costs-of-senior-living.
Here are some other very helpful resources:
Wikipedia describes it this way: A continuing care retirement community (CCRC) is a type of retirement community in the U.S. where a continuum of aging care needs—from independent living, assisted living, and skilled nursing care—can all be met within the community. These various levels of shelter and care may be housed on different floors or wings of a single high-rise building or in physically adjacent buildings, such as garden apartments, cottages, duplexes, mid- and low-rise buildings, or spread out in a campus setting. The emphasis of the CCRC model is to enable residents to avoid having to move, except to another level of care within the community, if their needs change.
Variation among CCRCs
- Mostly offer independent living, with a smaller number of assisted living and nursing care.
- Some are ONLY assisted living and nursing care
- Some organizations are beginning to offer : Coordination of care and care services while you stay at home, e.g. Kendal at Home.
- Non-profit vs. for-profit
- NOTE: FOR MOST CCRC’S YOU MUST QUALIFY AS BEING ABLE TO LIVE INDEPENDENTLY AND ARE ABLE TO PAY NOW AND INTO THE FUTURE. If you have a huge change in finances during your stay, most are obligated to continue to serve you.
- Independent adults : single family home or apartment.
- Move to assisted living or skilled nursing area if needs change.
- Live within the same community through your life, familiar people, surroundings and the services.
- Clubs, discussion groups, etc., may offer opportunities for community building.
- Services MAY include housekeeping, transportation and emergency help, social, fitness and educational activities.
- Repairs of appliances included in fees and are a phone call away.
- Short walk from residence to activities, people, gyms, swimming pools, art studios and restaurants.
- Too expensive.
- You have to move out of your current home.
- Inconvenient to get to for your family and friends.
- Not intergenerational.
- May not be racially, ethnically or economically diverse.
- Food not to your liking
THE BUY-IN
Most CCRCs require an entrance fee or a lump sum buy-in for independent living. The amount paid at the beginning guarantees the resident’s right to live at the CCRC for the rest of their life.
The CCRC may allow you to get a partial refund for up to 48 months at the beginning, or it may agree to refund 50% to 90% of your lump sum at any time, either to you or to your heirs. But you will pay a much higher price at the beginning if you want you or your heirs to get 90% of the original lump sum back when you leave or when you die.
MONTHLY FEES
The monthly fees can range from below $4,000 a month to over $6,000 with an extra charge for a second person. Monthly fees usually include 1 meal per day so you’ll need to shop for groceries or buy additional meals. Annual increases of monthly fees are usually 3 to 4 percent.
EXTRA FEES
May be extra at some facilities e.g.. parking, exercise classes, local transportation, guests, etc. and may be increased.
TYPES OF CONTRACTS
TYPE A
- Monthly fee does not increase if you move into assisted living or need a skilled nursing facility.
- Independent, assisted living, and nursing facility are on the same campus.
- This contract is best for people who want peace of mind that the monthly costs won’t increase no matter what.
- Reimbursement from Long Term Health Insurance policies are possible in some cases - depends on the policy.
- Type “A” contracts cost at least $1,000 per month more than type “C” contracts whether or not you use the assisted living or skilled nursing options.
TYPE C
- The cost for assisted living and skilled nursing is more or less at daily market rates. The median market rates for skilled nursing in the Metropolitan New York Area currently is around $400 a day.
- This is best for people who either have long term health care insurance or are self-insuring (consult your financial advisor).
- Some facilities do not have skilled nursing on campus so if you need that you’ll have to move to a nursing home.
- The pricing is complicated and varies greatly.
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions of the sales personnel. We found them informative, truthful and helpful. (Get ready for sales emails, phone calls! )
- Be sure you thoroughly understand the types of contracts available and their respective costs.
- Check out the extra costs. We found that the extras are fairly priced but do add to your living expenses.
- Find a good financial advisor to work with. They could save you from a bad decision.
DEVELOP YOUR CRITERIA FOR DECISION MAKING
What is important to you? Prioritize. Which are deal breakers?
LOCATION
- Proximity to family
- Proximity to friends
- Proximity to city, rural, town, live in another country
- Weather
- Access to mass transit, airports
- Size (large enough to have robust activities and choice of friends?)
- Are the values of the community aligned with your values?
- What is the emphasis of the community? Wellness, life-Long learning, etc.
- Diversity : race, ethnicity, class, religion, political leaning, welcoming to LGBTQ
- What activities do they offer: Life-long learning, art, exercise, volunteer opportunities within and outside the community?
THINGS TO ASK; THINGS TO NOTICE
- Attitudes of staff and community about aging
- Age of current residents –– NOT AVERAGES
- Resident input/ decision making
- Pets allowed
- Non-emergency health care: on-site .
- Aesthetics and upkeep of the facilities
- Walking trails; walk to town
- Staff turnover frequency?
- Long-term financial stability?
- Strategic plan?
- Biggest resident complaints?
- Interviews with residents: Best thing, worst thing, getting acclimated?
- Three words to describe your experience
- Health care? Food? Activities they enjoy, cliques? Recommend to others? Why? Why not?
- Moving in: timeline, waiting list, promissory note?
- Look at reviews, violations, employee reviews
- During a visit, ask to see the assisted living and nursing home facilities, meet staff and residents
PLACES WE VISITED
1. KENDAL ON HUDSON, Sleepy Hollow, NY
2. CEDAR CREST, Pompton Plains, NJ
3. SEABROOK, Tinton Fall, NJ (near Asbury Park)
4. THE KNOLLS, Valhalla, NY
5. WATERMARK AT EAST HILL, Southbury, CT
VIRTUAL TOUR:
6. COLLINGTON : A Kendal Affiliate near Washington, D.C.
RESOURCES FOR EXPLORING CCRCs
This resource is very helpful for understanding costs:
https://www.humangood.org/resources/senior-living-blog/new-guide-understanding-the-costs-of-senior-living.
Here are some other very helpful resources:
Organizing Your Stuff – Denise Hogan April 9, 2021 click here to open, click to close
Less is more has always been a mantra for me. Everything I’ve ever done both in my professional and personal life required me to be organized. It has served my employers, family and myself well. By being organized, my home is a living space not a storage space. I don’t look at organizing as getting rid of stuff, I look at it as keeping stuff. For me personally, owning less is better than organizing more.
Our needs and our wants are not one and the same. Often if we don’t have enough space, it is because we have too much stuff. When your home contains the things you love, things that are useful and beautiful, you enjoy spending your time there. And when you remove the clutter you have more time to spend with the people you love and to do the things you enjoy.
Organizing isn’t a punishment. You start out first discarding: no storing, no organizing until we have discarded. You choose what to keep. This is the order I follow: Clothing, books, papers, and things that are sentimental.
Start small so you are not overwhelmed, (shoes, or sweaters, or coats). When I go through my clothes, I look at what I haven’t worn for the season. This year is the exception since I didn’t wear much of what I have. Whatever I haven’t worn I give to my daughter, my granddaughter, my hairdresser who gives to her relatives, and to the woman’s shelter. Unless it can't be salvaged there is very little that needs to be thrown out. Start small.
Books have special meaning to people. If there is no attachment, then give your books to friends, hospitals, senior centers, and libraries.
Papers have a way of accumulating. In the month of January I go through my papers and purge. Documents are shredded, papers and magazines are recycled. I create a “take action” folder for papers that need to be attended to. Important documents have been copied and given to my daughter. My Grandchildren know where I keep them in the house. I have a visible “need to know” bulletin board that has my passwords, Doctors, medication and who to call in case of an emergency.
This last category, things that are sentimental, for me is the hardest. Items that have sentimental value can be the most challenging. Before you tackle this do not listen to well-meaning friends or relatives who tell you to throw it out. I had a trunk of photos and memorabilia from my children that I was attached to. So I shared them with my grandchildren and they got to see their parents as babies and many of their accomplishments. I shared memories not stuff.
Remember when organizing you are not making things neat. That’s called organized clutter. Organizing frees your mind and your space. So save what you need, use and love. Collect memories not stuff.
Our needs and our wants are not one and the same. Often if we don’t have enough space, it is because we have too much stuff. When your home contains the things you love, things that are useful and beautiful, you enjoy spending your time there. And when you remove the clutter you have more time to spend with the people you love and to do the things you enjoy.
Organizing isn’t a punishment. You start out first discarding: no storing, no organizing until we have discarded. You choose what to keep. This is the order I follow: Clothing, books, papers, and things that are sentimental.
Start small so you are not overwhelmed, (shoes, or sweaters, or coats). When I go through my clothes, I look at what I haven’t worn for the season. This year is the exception since I didn’t wear much of what I have. Whatever I haven’t worn I give to my daughter, my granddaughter, my hairdresser who gives to her relatives, and to the woman’s shelter. Unless it can't be salvaged there is very little that needs to be thrown out. Start small.
Books have special meaning to people. If there is no attachment, then give your books to friends, hospitals, senior centers, and libraries.
Papers have a way of accumulating. In the month of January I go through my papers and purge. Documents are shredded, papers and magazines are recycled. I create a “take action” folder for papers that need to be attended to. Important documents have been copied and given to my daughter. My Grandchildren know where I keep them in the house. I have a visible “need to know” bulletin board that has my passwords, Doctors, medication and who to call in case of an emergency.
This last category, things that are sentimental, for me is the hardest. Items that have sentimental value can be the most challenging. Before you tackle this do not listen to well-meaning friends or relatives who tell you to throw it out. I had a trunk of photos and memorabilia from my children that I was attached to. So I shared them with my grandchildren and they got to see their parents as babies and many of their accomplishments. I shared memories not stuff.
Remember when organizing you are not making things neat. That’s called organized clutter. Organizing frees your mind and your space. So save what you need, use and love. Collect memories not stuff.
A Sense of Place – organized by Carol Baretz May 7, 2021 click here to open, click to close
The idea for doing a program on a sense of place came from Carol Baretz. She was inspired by the idea that each of us has experienced a sense of place at some time in our lives. We are glad you can join us as Carol and three other CAN members share their stories about special places, places of the heart.
A Path to Peace Wall at Moshav Netiv HaAsara, Israel - Carol Baretz
Carol and a number of friends and family who were gathered for her granddaughter's wedding in Israel were fortunate to be led to the "Path to Peace Project" by her daughter and son-in-law who are tour guides. Together they traveled to Moshav Nativ HaAsara, a community of farming families located on the border of Israel and the Gaza Strip in the western Negev desert. Across the road from an enclave of homes much like those in suburban America, a mere 44 yards away, loomed the security barrier that separates Nativ HaAsara from the town of Beit Lahiya in Gaza. The massive wall, soaring to a height of 25 feet, is made of solid gray concrete and seems never to end.
One of the residents, the artist Tsameret Zamir, came up with the idea of transforming the wall from an imposing barrier to a symbol of hope for the future by decorating it. Thus began The Path to Peace project. In her ceramic studio she produced large quantities of colorful tiles. She invited visitors to hear the moshav’s unique story and to help her cover the wall in a beautiful array of mosaic tiles.
Carol and those with her were able to glue their ceramic tiles to the wall, helping to transform it. It is an inspiring mosaic, spelling the word "peace" in Hebrew, Arabic and English. It is created by thousands of visitors in the spirit of love, happiness and hope for a peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians.
A Lake in Groton, MA: A Place in the Heart - Donna Nye
Few experiences are more difficult than your parent's break-up. Donna parents divorced when she was ten years old, but three years later, her mother married Bob, a man who had a young son. The four of them became a blended family, escaping from life in suburban Boston to find adventure and fun at a lake in Groton, MA. There they lived in a cottage that Bob, a carpenter, had built. Bob also built a 14' Chris Craft fishing boat with a power motor. Donna said, "As a kid, I was thrilled to have a boat and motor at my disposal both to ride around the lake and fish for trout. My mother loved to fish with me too." Bob also built a raft using 55-gallon drums for floatation. Not only did the raft make a great swimming platform, Donna salvaged a motor for the "Crafty Rafty" so it could be propelled.
In addition to the wonders that Bob could build and the family enjoyed, their next-door neighbor had a two-passenger Cessna float plane. Donna said, "My first flight ever was flying with Mr. Ward. He taxied to the longest part of the lake. The plane either got up in the air or it didn’t. The flight was a real thrill for me." That place of care-free adventure that Donna enjoyed for two weeks each summer from 1960 to 1972 remains a place in her heart.
A Sense of Place: Ptown - Marti Gabriel
During the months of my first semester of graduate school in Northampton, MA, I came to jolting realization that I was gay and in love with a woman. Given the homophobic context of our culture in 1967, I was convinced that I was destined to live a “hidden” and somewhat disconnected life. As many of you may recall in those pre-liberation days, lesbians and especially gay men were the object of all manner of hate, emotional and physical discrimination and abuse . . . And this was pre-AIDS.
I really began wondering how in the world I could live my life with integrity and honesty while in hiding. Such questions led me to discover the small, quaint, town at the farthest end of Massachusetts, Provincetown. I will never, ever forget the feelings I had when driving down the hill into the drained swampland that is Provincetown and passing a sign which is forever imprinted on my mind and heart: “Welcome to Provincetown Massachusetts”.
My life changed forever that day. Once there, I knew I had arrived in a place that would always be home. I did not have to be a “misfit” expecting to be alienated and rejected. To my shock and amazement, Provincetown was filled with all sorts of people like me. I experienced a profound sense of “community”! Here was a place I could be safe, could be accepted and could experience mutual support.
While the world has changed dramatically in terms of its protections and acceptance of gay people, Provincetown remains my place of attachment. That attachment has only deepened and expanded over the years. To renew this attachment, I go with my partner, now spouse of 36 years, Gail, to Ptown every year and celebrate this place where people find a “sense of community”.
Camp - Mimi Hoffman
Mimi cherished her many summers at the legendary Leake and Watts camp and nursery school only a few blocks from her home. Leake and Watts was primarily a community for orphans, but during the summers, some of the orphans enjoyed programs in the local community away from the campus, while others joined with children from the local area for camp. The campus consisted of beautiful gardens to explore and magnificent trees overlooking the Hudson, wonderful buildings with stone arches and statues. Mimi wrote, "I believe their 'big idea' was that they wanted to create opportunities for the neighboring community to feel a kinship with them . . . to build connections with the community." Mimi thrived under the child-centered approach the counselors used that encouraged her explorations of nature, the arts, and her imagination.
Mimi wrote, "Last but not least, Leake & Watts was a counter-balance to my very over-protective mother. From the time I climbed to the top of the Nursery School jungle gym and proudly side-stepped around it without worrying my mother would be “plotzing” if she were there, to years later, when on the adventurous camping trips which pressed into my comfort zone, I had the opportunity to actively experience and passively take in so much that has contributed to who I have become."
A Path to Peace Wall at Moshav Netiv HaAsara, Israel - Carol Baretz
Carol and a number of friends and family who were gathered for her granddaughter's wedding in Israel were fortunate to be led to the "Path to Peace Project" by her daughter and son-in-law who are tour guides. Together they traveled to Moshav Nativ HaAsara, a community of farming families located on the border of Israel and the Gaza Strip in the western Negev desert. Across the road from an enclave of homes much like those in suburban America, a mere 44 yards away, loomed the security barrier that separates Nativ HaAsara from the town of Beit Lahiya in Gaza. The massive wall, soaring to a height of 25 feet, is made of solid gray concrete and seems never to end.
One of the residents, the artist Tsameret Zamir, came up with the idea of transforming the wall from an imposing barrier to a symbol of hope for the future by decorating it. Thus began The Path to Peace project. In her ceramic studio she produced large quantities of colorful tiles. She invited visitors to hear the moshav’s unique story and to help her cover the wall in a beautiful array of mosaic tiles.
Carol and those with her were able to glue their ceramic tiles to the wall, helping to transform it. It is an inspiring mosaic, spelling the word "peace" in Hebrew, Arabic and English. It is created by thousands of visitors in the spirit of love, happiness and hope for a peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians.
A Lake in Groton, MA: A Place in the Heart - Donna Nye
Few experiences are more difficult than your parent's break-up. Donna parents divorced when she was ten years old, but three years later, her mother married Bob, a man who had a young son. The four of them became a blended family, escaping from life in suburban Boston to find adventure and fun at a lake in Groton, MA. There they lived in a cottage that Bob, a carpenter, had built. Bob also built a 14' Chris Craft fishing boat with a power motor. Donna said, "As a kid, I was thrilled to have a boat and motor at my disposal both to ride around the lake and fish for trout. My mother loved to fish with me too." Bob also built a raft using 55-gallon drums for floatation. Not only did the raft make a great swimming platform, Donna salvaged a motor for the "Crafty Rafty" so it could be propelled.
In addition to the wonders that Bob could build and the family enjoyed, their next-door neighbor had a two-passenger Cessna float plane. Donna said, "My first flight ever was flying with Mr. Ward. He taxied to the longest part of the lake. The plane either got up in the air or it didn’t. The flight was a real thrill for me." That place of care-free adventure that Donna enjoyed for two weeks each summer from 1960 to 1972 remains a place in her heart.
A Sense of Place: Ptown - Marti Gabriel
During the months of my first semester of graduate school in Northampton, MA, I came to jolting realization that I was gay and in love with a woman. Given the homophobic context of our culture in 1967, I was convinced that I was destined to live a “hidden” and somewhat disconnected life. As many of you may recall in those pre-liberation days, lesbians and especially gay men were the object of all manner of hate, emotional and physical discrimination and abuse . . . And this was pre-AIDS.
I really began wondering how in the world I could live my life with integrity and honesty while in hiding. Such questions led me to discover the small, quaint, town at the farthest end of Massachusetts, Provincetown. I will never, ever forget the feelings I had when driving down the hill into the drained swampland that is Provincetown and passing a sign which is forever imprinted on my mind and heart: “Welcome to Provincetown Massachusetts”.
My life changed forever that day. Once there, I knew I had arrived in a place that would always be home. I did not have to be a “misfit” expecting to be alienated and rejected. To my shock and amazement, Provincetown was filled with all sorts of people like me. I experienced a profound sense of “community”! Here was a place I could be safe, could be accepted and could experience mutual support.
While the world has changed dramatically in terms of its protections and acceptance of gay people, Provincetown remains my place of attachment. That attachment has only deepened and expanded over the years. To renew this attachment, I go with my partner, now spouse of 36 years, Gail, to Ptown every year and celebrate this place where people find a “sense of community”.
Camp - Mimi Hoffman
Mimi cherished her many summers at the legendary Leake and Watts camp and nursery school only a few blocks from her home. Leake and Watts was primarily a community for orphans, but during the summers, some of the orphans enjoyed programs in the local community away from the campus, while others joined with children from the local area for camp. The campus consisted of beautiful gardens to explore and magnificent trees overlooking the Hudson, wonderful buildings with stone arches and statues. Mimi wrote, "I believe their 'big idea' was that they wanted to create opportunities for the neighboring community to feel a kinship with them . . . to build connections with the community." Mimi thrived under the child-centered approach the counselors used that encouraged her explorations of nature, the arts, and her imagination.
Mimi wrote, "Last but not least, Leake & Watts was a counter-balance to my very over-protective mother. From the time I climbed to the top of the Nursery School jungle gym and proudly side-stepped around it without worrying my mother would be “plotzing” if she were there, to years later, when on the adventurous camping trips which pressed into my comfort zone, I had the opportunity to actively experience and passively take in so much that has contributed to who I have become."
Travel Tips – Jim Ramsay June 4, 2021 click here to open, click to close
This talk is about air travel. Much of what I say, especially about getting organized, is relevant to other kinds of travel – by train, boat or even car – but my focus is on air travel. I have put a list of websites at the end of these notes where you can find more information about getting Known Traveler status from the TSA, typical luggage measurement requirements, and the coming 2023 changeover to Enhanced ID and REAL ID for your NY driver’s license.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING
Imagine you’ve made it to the airport, gone through security, and are sitting near the departure gate waiting for the boarding announcement. Here’s what you do to achieve the most important thing. Wait until the airlines people behind the counter are free, then summon your acting skills, become old, and walk up to the counter. Walk slowly. Raise your eyes to the person behind the counter. Look them directly in the eye, and say, in your old-person character, “Excuse me. I wondered if it would be possible for me to board a little bit early.” That’s it.
The implication is, I’d be helping you out by boarding a little early because I walk so slowly that a hundred and fifty Millennials and Gen X-ers will stack up behind me in the aisle and they’ll all be totally pissed off. But you don’t need to add that. Just say,“Excuse me. I wondered if it would be possible for me to board a little bit early.” You reply gracefully and still old, “Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.” As you walk away from the counter, avoid leaping up and clicking your heels.
Pre-boarding means you walk onto an empty plane. That means that wherever your seat is, you will have room in the overhead compartment for your carry-on luggage. If you’re not strong enough to lift your suitcase up into the overhead compartment, you can put it on the seat next to you and wait until a young strong person comes along and ask them to help you. Don’t ask a flight attendant. It’s not part of their job. But any younger passenger passing by will be proud to do so, and it will be so early in the boarding process that there will be plenty of room for them to help you stow your carry-on luggage in the overhead.
PREPARATION: MONTHS BEFORE YOU TRAVEL
TSA Pre-check
If you travel frequently, apply for Known Traveler status through the TSA (Transportation Security Administration). It takes ten minutes to fill out a form on-line, and then 10 minutes at an in-person screening office where you bring ID, fill out a form and are electronically fingerprinted. The closest screening center is over the bridge in White Plains. Do this a few months before you’re planning a flight. It costs $100 for a five-year membership.
Everything about buying airline tickets
Buy airline tickets on-line from the airline. Do not buy your tickets through travel booking websites like Expedia, Trip Advisor, or Orbitz when you book your flights. You can use these travel search websites to find flights, but once you’ve found the flights you want, buy your tickets on the airline’s website.
This is because when you get to the airport and you’ve booked your flight through the airline website, if your flight is cancelled, the people at the airline counter will help you re-book another flight for free. But, if you have booked your flight on, say, Expedia, then you have to re-book on Expedia. The people at the airline counter can’t re-book the Expedia reservation for you. I found this out the hard way: cancelled flight, stood in line in front of the airline counter for 45 minutes, only to have the person at the counter say, “I’m sorry sir, your reservations were made through Expedia. You have to re-book through Expedia.”
Buy your airline tickets about six weeks before your travel date. If you buy them earlier, they will cost more. If you buy them later, they will cost more. A round-trip flight to San Francisco bought six weeks before flying might cost around $650. If you buy tickets for the same flights a week before you fly, it can easily cost $1300.
When you buy your tickets, it’s important to think about the time of day for your flights. You will be much happier if your trip to the airport does not happen during rush hour. If you book a 6:00 p.m. flight out of JFK, and leave Nyack at 4:00 p.m., this puts you on the Van Wick Expressway to JFK at around 5:00. The Van Wick is a nightmare at 5 p.m. If you book your flight at, say, 4 p.m., you leave Nyack at 2, and get to JFK at 3.
For the same reason, also take into consideration the rush hour at your destination airport. Some careful choices on the time of day of your flights can save you medical bills for ulcers and psychotherapy bills for stress.
Trip organization
Have a good, light suitcase that fits airlines’ overhead bin requirements and has good, big sturdy rollers. Buy a good, smallish back pack. That’s all I travel with, for a week or a month: a carry-on suitcase and a small backpack that fits under the seat in front of me.
Create a packing list. Type it up, save it on your computer, and print it out. Add to it as you think of more things. Mine is a two-part list – “To do,” and “To pack.” To do includes things like charge my cell phone, pay the common fees, check the refrigerator door. To pack means EVERYTHING you are going to pack. If you don’t have a packing list where you cross off things as you pack them, you will inevitably forget to bring some things – like toothpaste, or heart medication, or extra glasses, or earplugs, or Kleenex. Once you have created your packing list, you can use it from then on, whenever you travel on whatever kind of transportation.
Create a trip file. Label a manila file folder with the name of your trip, then put into the file all the paperwork for your travel – airline ticket reservations, addresses, phone numbers, bills you are going to pay, COVID vaccination records, COVID test records, rental car reservations, hotel reservations, all of it. Put your trip file in a specific place, and keep it there. As you create more paperwork – museum reservations, stamps and stationery, crossword puzzles and sudokus, your list of crucial website passwords, whatever, put it in that one file and put the file back in its special place. Include “Trip File” as an item on your packing list to make sure you pack it and bring it along.
Packing
Most of us pack too many things. We bring two books when we hardly read one. We bring a week’s worth of socks, blouses, and underwear when we could bring four days worth and do a load of wash where we’re staying. So, as you pack, constantly ask yourself, “Do I really need this?”
That said, there are things I hope I don’t need, but bring along just in case. For example, I bring two first-aid baggies, one dry first-aid baggy with things like band-aids, Imodium, Tums, tweezers for splinters, anti-allergy tablets, and so on; and one wet first aid baggy – for hand sanitizer, a tube of antibiotic cream, eye drops, cortisone cream, etc.
I begin packing the day before I travel, and finish packing the morning of the trip.
On-line check-in and boarding pass
I have bought my tickets on-line from the airline. The on-line ticket buying form asks for my email address. Twenty-four hours or less before my flight time, the airline emails me an “It’s time to check in for your flight” email. Checking in on-line is easy – about four pointer clicks and you’re checked in. The “Time to Check In” email is important for two reasons: (1) If you wait until you’re at the airport to check in for your flight, you will have to stand in line at the airline counter before you get to security, with hundreds of other people, all of whom have fifteen bags to check and many complicated travel questions to ask. Better to check in on-line. (2) When you check in on line, you have the opportunity to print out your boarding pass. If you wait until you get to the airport, you can wind up standing in the same hundreds-of-people-each-with-15-bags-to-check line to get the boarding pass. There are kiosks at the pre-security airlines counters where you can print out your boarding pass, but why risk the stress of doing that when you can print out your boarding pass at home while you have your morning coffee, and already have it with you when you get to the airport. I print out my boarding pass and put it securely in my sports jacket pocket.
Clothes
There are two ways to pack clothes – roll them or fold them. If you know your suitcase is going to be tightly packed, not only with clothes, but also with gifts or special gear, it is best to roll your clothes. You can fit more in. Fold in sleeves of shirts and blouses, roll them tightly on a hard surface like a kitchen counter or a table. If you want to keep the roll tight, put a rubber band around it.
Put all the rolled things into the suitcase first, then the larger things like sweaters. Put things you might need right away at the top of the pile – an umbrella, a sweater, sun screen.
Pack your backpack with things you need access to on the plane – earphones, books, your trip file with your crossword puzzles, an empty water bottle, your laptop, your lunch, reading glasses, sun glasses, medicines you need during the flight. Your backpack needs to be small enough to fit under the seat in front of you.
The second most important thing after “Excuse me. I wondered if it would be possible for me to board a little bit early.” Is . . . . . Ziploc baggies!
I keep a quart-sized empty Ziploc baggy in my backpack. When I get to the airport, I empty my pockets into the baggy – house keys, car keys, cell phone, money, change, ball point pen, anything with a foil wrap. Also any jewelry – watches, necklaces, earrings, brooches. I put the baggy securely back into my backpack. I keep my wallet in my pocket because it has my ID in it. Once I show my ID at the checkpoint before Security screening, I put my wallet into the Ziploc baggy. Again, women have this figured out much better than men. If all your important stuff is in your purse, it just sails through the conveyer belt scanner without the man-panic of emptying pockets. Once I’m through the security scan, I put my pocket things back into my pockets.
I have another Ziploc baggie in my backpack, in a pocket with a Velcro closing flap. In that baggy, I put my keys, Anita’s keys, and my folded list of website passwords. These are things I really can’t afford to lose or misplace. They are always in that baggy.
Most of my flights are to San Francisco and back, a six hour flight going west, and a five hour flight coming back east (because the jet stream gives the plane a boost coming east). So I bring lunch and a snack – a couple of Ziploc sandwich bags with cheese sandwiches, a sandwich bag with apple slices, and a sandwich bag with cookies.
I have a Ziploc baggy for electronics; another for hearing aids, batteries and the other effluvia that goes with hearing aids.
Travel clothes on the plane
Wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothes. I wear stretch Levis, cotton socks, a cotton sweater, comfortable sneakers, and a non-wrinkle sports jacket. I wear the jacket for two reasons: for the pockets and for the in-flight air conditioning.
In one inside jacket breast pocket, I put my boarding pass and rental car or limo car pick-up reservation. In the other, I put my cell phone.
In the side pockets I carry a wad of Kleenex, a handkerchief, anti-gas tablets – my way of being socially responsible – and a glassine envelope with any meds I want to take in-flight.
In the outside breast pocket I carry earplugs and ballpoint pens for doing puzzles and writing.
Getting there on private transportation
Nyack to JFK
Uber or Lyft: $ 90.
Nyack taxi: $100.
Town car limo service: $165.
Airbrook Limo, $165 to JFK (includes all tolls and gratuity). Airbrook is $118 Nyack to Newark Airport for a trip taking less than an hour. Airbrook costs more to JFK because the company is based in New Jersey, and getting one of their cars from Nyack to JFK means they have to pay the toll to cross the Hudson before they pick you up, and again, in some cases, on their trip home.
I prefer flying out of and into Newark Liberty Airport (EWR) because the trip from and back to Nyack avoids going directly through New York City traffic.
Yes, airport trips on private transportation are way more expensive, but consider stress. I stress out getting to the airport. It’s totally worth it to me, age 80, to pay extra for a car service.
Your trip back home
1. Pack your bags just like you did for the outbound trip.
2. Access your email and a printer. Do the airline flight check-in 24 hours or less before your flight home. Print out your boarding pass for your return flight.
3. When you are on your way to the airport for the return flight, you won’t be fighting through rush hour traffic because the flight you have chosen has a departure time that avoids rush hour.
4. And, when you get to the gate, say, “Excuse me. I wondered if it would be possible for me to board a little bit early.”
________________
Reference information
1. Use the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) website,
https://www.tsa.gov/precheck to obtain your “Known Traveler” TSA Pre-Check number. It costs $100 to get Known Traveler status. Include your TSA Pre-Check number when you buy airline tickets on-line. The airline will print “TSA Pre-Check” on your boarding pass, and you will be directed to the TSA pre-check line to go through at airport security. The TSA Pre-Check line is much shorter than the regular line.
2. Here’s a typical size limit for a carry-on bag that you put in the overhead compartment. This is from the American Airlines website:
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/baggage/carry-on-baggage.jsp. Carry-on should not exceed the following restrictions: 45 linear inches (22 inches x 14 inches x 9 inches) including handles and wheels.
3. In less than two years, starting May 3, 2023, you will need to show “Enhanced ID” or “REAL ID” on domestic flights throughout the U.S. These IDs are a new kind of driver’s license. The only other thing that will work as ID will be your passport. Here’s the NY Department of Motor Vehicles (NY DMV) website to learn more about these new drivers licenses:
https://dmv.ny.gov/get-enhanced-or-real-id. where you can start the process of getting an enhanced ID.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING
Imagine you’ve made it to the airport, gone through security, and are sitting near the departure gate waiting for the boarding announcement. Here’s what you do to achieve the most important thing. Wait until the airlines people behind the counter are free, then summon your acting skills, become old, and walk up to the counter. Walk slowly. Raise your eyes to the person behind the counter. Look them directly in the eye, and say, in your old-person character, “Excuse me. I wondered if it would be possible for me to board a little bit early.” That’s it.
The implication is, I’d be helping you out by boarding a little early because I walk so slowly that a hundred and fifty Millennials and Gen X-ers will stack up behind me in the aisle and they’ll all be totally pissed off. But you don’t need to add that. Just say,“Excuse me. I wondered if it would be possible for me to board a little bit early.” You reply gracefully and still old, “Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.” As you walk away from the counter, avoid leaping up and clicking your heels.
Pre-boarding means you walk onto an empty plane. That means that wherever your seat is, you will have room in the overhead compartment for your carry-on luggage. If you’re not strong enough to lift your suitcase up into the overhead compartment, you can put it on the seat next to you and wait until a young strong person comes along and ask them to help you. Don’t ask a flight attendant. It’s not part of their job. But any younger passenger passing by will be proud to do so, and it will be so early in the boarding process that there will be plenty of room for them to help you stow your carry-on luggage in the overhead.
PREPARATION: MONTHS BEFORE YOU TRAVEL
TSA Pre-check
If you travel frequently, apply for Known Traveler status through the TSA (Transportation Security Administration). It takes ten minutes to fill out a form on-line, and then 10 minutes at an in-person screening office where you bring ID, fill out a form and are electronically fingerprinted. The closest screening center is over the bridge in White Plains. Do this a few months before you’re planning a flight. It costs $100 for a five-year membership.
Everything about buying airline tickets
Buy airline tickets on-line from the airline. Do not buy your tickets through travel booking websites like Expedia, Trip Advisor, or Orbitz when you book your flights. You can use these travel search websites to find flights, but once you’ve found the flights you want, buy your tickets on the airline’s website.
This is because when you get to the airport and you’ve booked your flight through the airline website, if your flight is cancelled, the people at the airline counter will help you re-book another flight for free. But, if you have booked your flight on, say, Expedia, then you have to re-book on Expedia. The people at the airline counter can’t re-book the Expedia reservation for you. I found this out the hard way: cancelled flight, stood in line in front of the airline counter for 45 minutes, only to have the person at the counter say, “I’m sorry sir, your reservations were made through Expedia. You have to re-book through Expedia.”
Buy your airline tickets about six weeks before your travel date. If you buy them earlier, they will cost more. If you buy them later, they will cost more. A round-trip flight to San Francisco bought six weeks before flying might cost around $650. If you buy tickets for the same flights a week before you fly, it can easily cost $1300.
When you buy your tickets, it’s important to think about the time of day for your flights. You will be much happier if your trip to the airport does not happen during rush hour. If you book a 6:00 p.m. flight out of JFK, and leave Nyack at 4:00 p.m., this puts you on the Van Wick Expressway to JFK at around 5:00. The Van Wick is a nightmare at 5 p.m. If you book your flight at, say, 4 p.m., you leave Nyack at 2, and get to JFK at 3.
For the same reason, also take into consideration the rush hour at your destination airport. Some careful choices on the time of day of your flights can save you medical bills for ulcers and psychotherapy bills for stress.
Trip organization
Have a good, light suitcase that fits airlines’ overhead bin requirements and has good, big sturdy rollers. Buy a good, smallish back pack. That’s all I travel with, for a week or a month: a carry-on suitcase and a small backpack that fits under the seat in front of me.
Create a packing list. Type it up, save it on your computer, and print it out. Add to it as you think of more things. Mine is a two-part list – “To do,” and “To pack.” To do includes things like charge my cell phone, pay the common fees, check the refrigerator door. To pack means EVERYTHING you are going to pack. If you don’t have a packing list where you cross off things as you pack them, you will inevitably forget to bring some things – like toothpaste, or heart medication, or extra glasses, or earplugs, or Kleenex. Once you have created your packing list, you can use it from then on, whenever you travel on whatever kind of transportation.
Create a trip file. Label a manila file folder with the name of your trip, then put into the file all the paperwork for your travel – airline ticket reservations, addresses, phone numbers, bills you are going to pay, COVID vaccination records, COVID test records, rental car reservations, hotel reservations, all of it. Put your trip file in a specific place, and keep it there. As you create more paperwork – museum reservations, stamps and stationery, crossword puzzles and sudokus, your list of crucial website passwords, whatever, put it in that one file and put the file back in its special place. Include “Trip File” as an item on your packing list to make sure you pack it and bring it along.
Packing
Most of us pack too many things. We bring two books when we hardly read one. We bring a week’s worth of socks, blouses, and underwear when we could bring four days worth and do a load of wash where we’re staying. So, as you pack, constantly ask yourself, “Do I really need this?”
That said, there are things I hope I don’t need, but bring along just in case. For example, I bring two first-aid baggies, one dry first-aid baggy with things like band-aids, Imodium, Tums, tweezers for splinters, anti-allergy tablets, and so on; and one wet first aid baggy – for hand sanitizer, a tube of antibiotic cream, eye drops, cortisone cream, etc.
I begin packing the day before I travel, and finish packing the morning of the trip.
On-line check-in and boarding pass
I have bought my tickets on-line from the airline. The on-line ticket buying form asks for my email address. Twenty-four hours or less before my flight time, the airline emails me an “It’s time to check in for your flight” email. Checking in on-line is easy – about four pointer clicks and you’re checked in. The “Time to Check In” email is important for two reasons: (1) If you wait until you’re at the airport to check in for your flight, you will have to stand in line at the airline counter before you get to security, with hundreds of other people, all of whom have fifteen bags to check and many complicated travel questions to ask. Better to check in on-line. (2) When you check in on line, you have the opportunity to print out your boarding pass. If you wait until you get to the airport, you can wind up standing in the same hundreds-of-people-each-with-15-bags-to-check line to get the boarding pass. There are kiosks at the pre-security airlines counters where you can print out your boarding pass, but why risk the stress of doing that when you can print out your boarding pass at home while you have your morning coffee, and already have it with you when you get to the airport. I print out my boarding pass and put it securely in my sports jacket pocket.
Clothes
There are two ways to pack clothes – roll them or fold them. If you know your suitcase is going to be tightly packed, not only with clothes, but also with gifts or special gear, it is best to roll your clothes. You can fit more in. Fold in sleeves of shirts and blouses, roll them tightly on a hard surface like a kitchen counter or a table. If you want to keep the roll tight, put a rubber band around it.
Put all the rolled things into the suitcase first, then the larger things like sweaters. Put things you might need right away at the top of the pile – an umbrella, a sweater, sun screen.
Pack your backpack with things you need access to on the plane – earphones, books, your trip file with your crossword puzzles, an empty water bottle, your laptop, your lunch, reading glasses, sun glasses, medicines you need during the flight. Your backpack needs to be small enough to fit under the seat in front of you.
The second most important thing after “Excuse me. I wondered if it would be possible for me to board a little bit early.” Is . . . . . Ziploc baggies!
I keep a quart-sized empty Ziploc baggy in my backpack. When I get to the airport, I empty my pockets into the baggy – house keys, car keys, cell phone, money, change, ball point pen, anything with a foil wrap. Also any jewelry – watches, necklaces, earrings, brooches. I put the baggy securely back into my backpack. I keep my wallet in my pocket because it has my ID in it. Once I show my ID at the checkpoint before Security screening, I put my wallet into the Ziploc baggy. Again, women have this figured out much better than men. If all your important stuff is in your purse, it just sails through the conveyer belt scanner without the man-panic of emptying pockets. Once I’m through the security scan, I put my pocket things back into my pockets.
I have another Ziploc baggie in my backpack, in a pocket with a Velcro closing flap. In that baggy, I put my keys, Anita’s keys, and my folded list of website passwords. These are things I really can’t afford to lose or misplace. They are always in that baggy.
Most of my flights are to San Francisco and back, a six hour flight going west, and a five hour flight coming back east (because the jet stream gives the plane a boost coming east). So I bring lunch and a snack – a couple of Ziploc sandwich bags with cheese sandwiches, a sandwich bag with apple slices, and a sandwich bag with cookies.
I have a Ziploc baggy for electronics; another for hearing aids, batteries and the other effluvia that goes with hearing aids.
Travel clothes on the plane
Wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothes. I wear stretch Levis, cotton socks, a cotton sweater, comfortable sneakers, and a non-wrinkle sports jacket. I wear the jacket for two reasons: for the pockets and for the in-flight air conditioning.
In one inside jacket breast pocket, I put my boarding pass and rental car or limo car pick-up reservation. In the other, I put my cell phone.
In the side pockets I carry a wad of Kleenex, a handkerchief, anti-gas tablets – my way of being socially responsible – and a glassine envelope with any meds I want to take in-flight.
In the outside breast pocket I carry earplugs and ballpoint pens for doing puzzles and writing.
Getting there on private transportation
Nyack to JFK
Uber or Lyft: $ 90.
Nyack taxi: $100.
Town car limo service: $165.
Airbrook Limo, $165 to JFK (includes all tolls and gratuity). Airbrook is $118 Nyack to Newark Airport for a trip taking less than an hour. Airbrook costs more to JFK because the company is based in New Jersey, and getting one of their cars from Nyack to JFK means they have to pay the toll to cross the Hudson before they pick you up, and again, in some cases, on their trip home.
I prefer flying out of and into Newark Liberty Airport (EWR) because the trip from and back to Nyack avoids going directly through New York City traffic.
Yes, airport trips on private transportation are way more expensive, but consider stress. I stress out getting to the airport. It’s totally worth it to me, age 80, to pay extra for a car service.
Your trip back home
1. Pack your bags just like you did for the outbound trip.
2. Access your email and a printer. Do the airline flight check-in 24 hours or less before your flight home. Print out your boarding pass for your return flight.
3. When you are on your way to the airport for the return flight, you won’t be fighting through rush hour traffic because the flight you have chosen has a departure time that avoids rush hour.
4. And, when you get to the gate, say, “Excuse me. I wondered if it would be possible for me to board a little bit early.”
________________
Reference information
1. Use the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) website,
https://www.tsa.gov/precheck to obtain your “Known Traveler” TSA Pre-Check number. It costs $100 to get Known Traveler status. Include your TSA Pre-Check number when you buy airline tickets on-line. The airline will print “TSA Pre-Check” on your boarding pass, and you will be directed to the TSA pre-check line to go through at airport security. The TSA Pre-Check line is much shorter than the regular line.
2. Here’s a typical size limit for a carry-on bag that you put in the overhead compartment. This is from the American Airlines website:
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/baggage/carry-on-baggage.jsp. Carry-on should not exceed the following restrictions: 45 linear inches (22 inches x 14 inches x 9 inches) including handles and wheels.
3. In less than two years, starting May 3, 2023, you will need to show “Enhanced ID” or “REAL ID” on domestic flights throughout the U.S. These IDs are a new kind of driver’s license. The only other thing that will work as ID will be your passport. Here’s the NY Department of Motor Vehicles (NY DMV) website to learn more about these new drivers licenses:
https://dmv.ny.gov/get-enhanced-or-real-id. where you can start the process of getting an enhanced ID.
New Shops as Nyack Reopens – organized by David Dickson July 2, 2021 click to open, click to close
David Dickson presented a panel of entrepreneurs who opened new businesses in Nyack during the pandemic. We know that several businesses had to close permanently because of the pandemic, so we are grateful that these businesses are here!
My Father’s House, Southern Cuisine – Adrienne Cromartie-Wolf, Exec. Chef/Founder
12 North Broadway
Adrienne graduated from Urban Horizon Culinary Arts in June 2001 and worked within the Urban Horizon Catering Division. She previously worked alongside her late father, Franklin Delano Cromartie, at his catering company, Cromartie Caters. Her experience working with her father instilled in her and her sisters the love for cooking, and gave her a solid foundation in food service, and birthed within her the spirit of entrepreneurship. My Father’s House Southern Cuisine is in memory of Franklin Cromartie. As a woman of faith, Adrienne has dedicated the restaurant to our Heavenly Father, her natural father, and her spiritual father-Bishop Hezekiah Walker. She and her husband are delighted to be in the Nyack community where they have felt such a sense of welcome from their new customers.
Cottage Creek Gardens – Jennifer Giunta, Proprietor
161 Main Street
Jennifer and her husband have operated their small home-based nursery in Valley Cottage for years. She recently opened the retail store in Nyack after deciding to discontinue doing the retail business out of their home property, although a variety of plants are grown there for sale in the Nyack location. The store has beautiful house plants and other local artisan crafts in addition to a large outdoor area with outdoor flowering plants and vegetable stock. There are also watering devices Jennifer’s husband designs and builds.
Jennifer is a pleasure to talk with. When you purchase a plant from her you are not on your own. She will give plenty of advice on how to keep your plant purchase thriving. Jennifer says that a plan has been discussed to use the outdoor area for private events. That might include some type of collaboration between Cottage Creek and Didier Dumont.
Farina Caffe’ – Daniela Buglione, Owner/Baker
125 Main St suite #7
Daniela was born and raised in Uruguay, SA. She received her first baking lessons from her grandmother, learning recipes that were handed down through generations. Daniel’s grandmother instilled confidence in Daniel that allowed her to later move on to her dream of becoming a baker. She met her husband, Fabian, at architecture school in Uruguay. Eventually they decided to immigrate to the US in New Jersey with their baby son. A few years later they were blessed with a daughter and Daniela worked at a bakery for seven years while honing her skills as a baker, in business, and mother of two.
Daniela’s spirit of entrepreneurship remained strong so when the opportunity came to open her own bakery, ironically during the pandemic, she took it. This was certainly risky and challenging, Farina Caffe’ opened in Nyack in December of 2020. The traditional Uruguayan and Argentine pastries are attractive, light, and delicious and if you are in the mood for breakfast or lunch, there are wonderful choices to choose from. Daniela is committed to honoring the values and traditions of her family while serving Nyack, the community that has become her home.
Modern Druid – Emery Zuk, Store Manager, Reiki Master
60 South Broadway
Emery graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s Degree focused on Biology from SUNY Potsdam. She is an experienced manager with strong leadership skills and particular emphasis on social media, public speaking, and event planning. She comes to Nyack from Port Chester to manage the newly opened Modern Druid of Nyack. Emery is also a Reiki Master and practices Reiki, a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that is said to promote healing.
The store displays a wide array of artisan crafts, oils, and make up as well as unique garments. It is spacious and a comfortable environment to be in. Important for its mission, Modern Druid offers many classes to help promote personal well being. Some are designed specifically for different age and gender groups.
Emery wrote, "We are a brand-new woman-owned small business, having opened in May 1, 2021. One of our themes within the store is collaboration, having sourced may of our store products from local jewelers, artists, and aromatherapists. With our motto being 'Authenticity and Integrity in Spirituality', we strive to educate and elevate men and women of all ages while exploring their spiritual side through healing."
My Father’s House, Southern Cuisine – Adrienne Cromartie-Wolf, Exec. Chef/Founder
12 North Broadway
Adrienne graduated from Urban Horizon Culinary Arts in June 2001 and worked within the Urban Horizon Catering Division. She previously worked alongside her late father, Franklin Delano Cromartie, at his catering company, Cromartie Caters. Her experience working with her father instilled in her and her sisters the love for cooking, and gave her a solid foundation in food service, and birthed within her the spirit of entrepreneurship. My Father’s House Southern Cuisine is in memory of Franklin Cromartie. As a woman of faith, Adrienne has dedicated the restaurant to our Heavenly Father, her natural father, and her spiritual father-Bishop Hezekiah Walker. She and her husband are delighted to be in the Nyack community where they have felt such a sense of welcome from their new customers.
Cottage Creek Gardens – Jennifer Giunta, Proprietor
161 Main Street
Jennifer and her husband have operated their small home-based nursery in Valley Cottage for years. She recently opened the retail store in Nyack after deciding to discontinue doing the retail business out of their home property, although a variety of plants are grown there for sale in the Nyack location. The store has beautiful house plants and other local artisan crafts in addition to a large outdoor area with outdoor flowering plants and vegetable stock. There are also watering devices Jennifer’s husband designs and builds.
Jennifer is a pleasure to talk with. When you purchase a plant from her you are not on your own. She will give plenty of advice on how to keep your plant purchase thriving. Jennifer says that a plan has been discussed to use the outdoor area for private events. That might include some type of collaboration between Cottage Creek and Didier Dumont.
Farina Caffe’ – Daniela Buglione, Owner/Baker
125 Main St suite #7
Daniela was born and raised in Uruguay, SA. She received her first baking lessons from her grandmother, learning recipes that were handed down through generations. Daniel’s grandmother instilled confidence in Daniel that allowed her to later move on to her dream of becoming a baker. She met her husband, Fabian, at architecture school in Uruguay. Eventually they decided to immigrate to the US in New Jersey with their baby son. A few years later they were blessed with a daughter and Daniela worked at a bakery for seven years while honing her skills as a baker, in business, and mother of two.
Daniela’s spirit of entrepreneurship remained strong so when the opportunity came to open her own bakery, ironically during the pandemic, she took it. This was certainly risky and challenging, Farina Caffe’ opened in Nyack in December of 2020. The traditional Uruguayan and Argentine pastries are attractive, light, and delicious and if you are in the mood for breakfast or lunch, there are wonderful choices to choose from. Daniela is committed to honoring the values and traditions of her family while serving Nyack, the community that has become her home.
Modern Druid – Emery Zuk, Store Manager, Reiki Master
60 South Broadway
Emery graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s Degree focused on Biology from SUNY Potsdam. She is an experienced manager with strong leadership skills and particular emphasis on social media, public speaking, and event planning. She comes to Nyack from Port Chester to manage the newly opened Modern Druid of Nyack. Emery is also a Reiki Master and practices Reiki, a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that is said to promote healing.
The store displays a wide array of artisan crafts, oils, and make up as well as unique garments. It is spacious and a comfortable environment to be in. Important for its mission, Modern Druid offers many classes to help promote personal well being. Some are designed specifically for different age and gender groups.
Emery wrote, "We are a brand-new woman-owned small business, having opened in May 1, 2021. One of our themes within the store is collaboration, having sourced may of our store products from local jewelers, artists, and aromatherapists. With our motto being 'Authenticity and Integrity in Spirituality', we strive to educate and elevate men and women of all ages while exploring their spiritual side through healing."
Thinking Together about Creative Aging in Nyack - Ann Morgan July 30, 2021 click to open, click to close
We gathered to talk more about ideas for ensuring that Creative Aging in Nyack continues to be a vibrant, welcoming community for all of us, but we recognize that we need to figure some things out. We feel as though we are in an in-between time. Some people in Creative Aging are feeling very ready to come to meetings and to meet in small groups, but others, understandably, are much more hesitant. Because of the Delta variant, we wore masks at the meeting today. We need to consider having some of our meetings on Zoom, and others in the library with masks on.
During the meeting we had several opportunities for members to meet in smaller groups.
To begin, we asked members, What connects you to Creative Aging in Nyack? Some of the responses were:
Emergency Groups
Although one or two Emergency Groups have been thriving, most have not. We originally wanted to have Emergency Groups because we had recently had some very severe storms that uprooted trees, knocked out the power, and in many ways devastated the community. We did not want anyone our age to be left alone and in the dark – and possibly in the cold – during such a storm. We arbitrarily assigned people to Emergency Groups based on where they lived. Many people - including those with generators – were willing to participate because they like the sense of community and neighbor-helping-neighbor in this CAN Community.
But there has been a lot of confusion about the value and function of Emergency Groups. New members have not yet been put into Emergency Groups because we need to work out some of the problems that currently exist first.
Here are some of the issues with the groups.
During the meeting we had several opportunities for members to meet in smaller groups.
To begin, we asked members, What connects you to Creative Aging in Nyack? Some of the responses were:
- The sense of community and new connections
- Socializing, meeting new people, and developing friendships
- The idea of aging together, sharing information, and being a resource for each other
- Knowing there is help available
- Provides a feeling of belonging
- CAN is welcoming, and brings both meaning and fun
- The vibrancy of the group
- The people meeting in the library prefer in-person meetings, but they recognize Zoom once a month as a possibility
- Continue in the library wearing masks
- Develop the small groups around a shared interest.
- Small groups might meet outdoors. Possible locations include Rockland Lake or possibly the Hopper House garden
Emergency Groups
Although one or two Emergency Groups have been thriving, most have not. We originally wanted to have Emergency Groups because we had recently had some very severe storms that uprooted trees, knocked out the power, and in many ways devastated the community. We did not want anyone our age to be left alone and in the dark – and possibly in the cold – during such a storm. We arbitrarily assigned people to Emergency Groups based on where they lived. Many people - including those with generators – were willing to participate because they like the sense of community and neighbor-helping-neighbor in this CAN Community.
But there has been a lot of confusion about the value and function of Emergency Groups. New members have not yet been put into Emergency Groups because we need to work out some of the problems that currently exist first.
Here are some of the issues with the groups.
- Does it cover all emergencies including Covid? Is it the basis for a social group? What should I do if I want to be in a group, but the others assigned to my group are not interested or are not responding?
- Having group members contact each other through a phone chain in a storm – or in a practice session – did not work. If one person was absent, the chain stopped at that point. People did not pick up the phone, and callers did not leave messages. Often no one was accountable, and there was no system for improving communication.
- In some groups, some individuals already had a structure of friends and family around them, and they did not need the structure we had imposed on them, so they silently did not connect with their group in any way. That left other people in the group with no real group around them.
- Then the pandemic hit and so people were hesitant about going into each other’s homes in case of an emergency. Others thought Covid constituted an emergency.
- Some people chose to make their Emergency group into a social group, which was fine, but that was never the purpose of the Emergency groups. It was not a model that could be replicated in other groups.
- Some people may have been concerned that if they became involved with their Emergency group, they would be responsible for feeding and sheltering others.
- Change the name to Storm Groups rather than Emergency Groups so people know what they are for.
- Membership in the Storm Groups would be voluntary – and we would keep the number of people in each neighborhood group to five or six.
- Have one contact person in each group be responsible for contacting the other four or five people if there is a storm. That person needs to volunteer rather than be appointed.
- We need to clearly define exactly what the purpose of the Storm Group would be.
- It is helpful if people in the group live close to one another, but we also want to stay connected to those few who live further away. What to do?
- CAN could develop a list of resources, including asking police and fire department.
All for You - Nyack Library Services - Georgia Grandstaff August 13, 2021 click to open, click to close
Homebound Delivery Services
On-on-One Computer Help
Museum Passes
Here is a list of museums for which the library has passes:
WiFi Hotspots
Kindles
NOTE: The next few items are wonderful ways you can access books, audiobooks, magazine, music and movies online. Some of these you can access from the Nyack Library website, and some require that you get the app. Go the Nyack Library website. At the top find DIGITAL RESOURCES. When you slide over those words you will see a drop-down list. Click on EBOOKS AND STREAMING MEDIA. As you look over the options there, don't be afraid to click on the options there. You can access some of the materials just by clicking on what you want. if you want to download one of the apps, click on words like GET THE LIBBY MOBILE APP.
Libby
It is an app! You can download it to your phone or tablet.
What is it good for?
E-books, e-audiobooks, and magazines!!
How does it work?
Search for what you want. There may be a wait for some items. The things are automatically “returned” after the loan period.
Hoopla!
It is an app! You can download it to your phone or tablet, and SOME streaming devices like Roku.
What is it good for?
E-books, e-audiobooks, movies, TV shows (including some BBC shows), and music.
How does it work?
Search for what you want, there is NO WAIT, limit of 8 downloads a month.
Kanopy
It is an app! You can download it to your phone or tablet, and SOME streaming devices like Roku.
What is it good for?
Movies and documentaries, has more “art house”, PBS series, the Great Courses
How does it work?
Search for what you want, there is NO WAIT, limit of 8 downloads a month.
______________
Databases
Access via our Library website under "Digital Resources" and then "Research and Databases." Some are only available inside the Library – they are labeled as such. All of these are free for Nyack Library card holders.
Some of the available databases are Consumer Reports, NovelList, Rosetta Stone, Tech Boomers, Universal Class, and Niche Academy. You can explore genealogy through Heritage Quest and Ancestry.
The databases cover many areas, such as law databases, job databases, health and medical databases, court help information
Health and Medical databases
Court help information
School district information
Kelley Blue Book
History and Literature
Local History Room
Currently has very limited hours
Tuesdays 2-4
Wednesdays 10-2
All other times, by appointment only. Please email [email protected] to arrange a time.
The collection includes:
Nyack yearbooks
SOME information about house
Obituaries
Local authors
Lots of local history information and books
Old maps
Nyack Library Events Calendar
As you know, the library has a wonderful calendar of the events they offer. To explore the calendar or to register for any of the events listed below, go to the library's calendar page, https://www.nyacklibrary.org/eventscalendar.html#/events/
- Free! No late fees (but you must pay for lost items)
- Specifically for Nyack Library Cardholders.
- For people who can't leave their homes (can't check things out in the Library)
- Can only have three items at once.
- Sent through the USPS mail.
On-on-One Computer Help
- Schedule a 30 minute session with a librarian
- Computer basics, email, social media, ebooks, SOME phone hep, iPads, Microsoft Word, etc.
- Bring your own device or use ours
- ed to bring your passwords with you!You will ne
Museum Passes
- 3 day loan - one at a time. Most are good for at least two people.
- Can't "reserve" passes
- Do not be late!!! Big late fee.
- Located at the circulation desk.
- Some museums are "advanced registration"
Here is a list of museums for which the library has passes:
- Museum of Natural History (vouchers 2 per year)
- Boscobel
- Cooper Hewitt
- DIA Beacon and Chelsea
- Empire Pass (free access to most state parks and campgrounds)
- Hopper House
- The Frick
- MOMA
- Neuberger
- New York Historical Society
- New York Transit Museum
- Guggenheim
- Storm King
WiFi Hotspots
- Gives you WiFi access wherever you are
- Password protected
- Seven day load
- Great if you are going on vacation.
Kindles
- Available at the Circulation Desk
- Two week load
- Preloaded with current Bestsellers (a good way to get around the waitlists)
- Can’t download whatever you want on them
NOTE: The next few items are wonderful ways you can access books, audiobooks, magazine, music and movies online. Some of these you can access from the Nyack Library website, and some require that you get the app. Go the Nyack Library website. At the top find DIGITAL RESOURCES. When you slide over those words you will see a drop-down list. Click on EBOOKS AND STREAMING MEDIA. As you look over the options there, don't be afraid to click on the options there. You can access some of the materials just by clicking on what you want. if you want to download one of the apps, click on words like GET THE LIBBY MOBILE APP.
Libby
It is an app! You can download it to your phone or tablet.
What is it good for?
E-books, e-audiobooks, and magazines!!
How does it work?
Search for what you want. There may be a wait for some items. The things are automatically “returned” after the loan period.
Hoopla!
It is an app! You can download it to your phone or tablet, and SOME streaming devices like Roku.
What is it good for?
E-books, e-audiobooks, movies, TV shows (including some BBC shows), and music.
How does it work?
Search for what you want, there is NO WAIT, limit of 8 downloads a month.
Kanopy
It is an app! You can download it to your phone or tablet, and SOME streaming devices like Roku.
What is it good for?
Movies and documentaries, has more “art house”, PBS series, the Great Courses
How does it work?
Search for what you want, there is NO WAIT, limit of 8 downloads a month.
______________
Databases
Access via our Library website under "Digital Resources" and then "Research and Databases." Some are only available inside the Library – they are labeled as such. All of these are free for Nyack Library card holders.
Some of the available databases are Consumer Reports, NovelList, Rosetta Stone, Tech Boomers, Universal Class, and Niche Academy. You can explore genealogy through Heritage Quest and Ancestry.
The databases cover many areas, such as law databases, job databases, health and medical databases, court help information
Health and Medical databases
Court help information
School district information
Kelley Blue Book
History and Literature
Local History Room
Currently has very limited hours
Tuesdays 2-4
Wednesdays 10-2
All other times, by appointment only. Please email [email protected] to arrange a time.
The collection includes:
Nyack yearbooks
SOME information about house
Obituaries
Local authors
Lots of local history information and books
Old maps
Nyack Library Events Calendar
As you know, the library has a wonderful calendar of the events they offer. To explore the calendar or to register for any of the events listed below, go to the library's calendar page, https://www.nyacklibrary.org/eventscalendar.html#/events/
The Blue Zones and More - Dorothy Whitton August 27, 2021 click to open, click to close
Change is inevitable. We can change our daily behaviors and lifestyle at any age with a positive attitude. Being healthier and happier well into our senior years requires knowledge, fortitude and action. Resilience at any age is a state of mind. Friends and family play important roles. Being mindful of your current lifestyle by proactively shifting some of your lifestyle choices will help you to age well into the late, late years. Depression, anxiety, self-doubt, and fears rob us of our health and well-being.
Dan Buettner, along with National Geographic, discovered areas of the world called the Blue Zones where people are living the longest, healthiest lives well into their 90's and 100's, often without chronic diseases. Some of these areas are Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica; Loma Linda, California; and Okinawa, Japan. Buettner identified 9 principles that the people living in these area live by, labeling them Power 9 principles.
A new study demonstrates how lifestyle changes and diet slowed biological aging and extended health span by as much as 3 years. This pilot was a randomized clinical trial of 8 weeks included diet, at least 7 hours of sleep, brisk exercise, relaxation, and supplements with a plant based diet. Participants showed a reversal in markers of biologic aging called epigenetic age. The diet also included supplemental vitamins D, C, zinc, and probiotics. The participants exercised 30 minutes per day, at least 5 days per week, including brisk walking of 60 to 80% of maximum perceived exertion. They also did daily breathing exercises to elicit the Relaxation Response, 20 minutes 2x per day, which reduced stress levels with improved immune functioning.
What We Need to Do: Develop an Anti-inflammatory Lifestyle
Dan Buettner, along with National Geographic, discovered areas of the world called the Blue Zones where people are living the longest, healthiest lives well into their 90's and 100's, often without chronic diseases. Some of these areas are Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica; Loma Linda, California; and Okinawa, Japan. Buettner identified 9 principles that the people living in these area live by, labeling them Power 9 principles.
- Move naturally: work around the house, garden, walk, cycle. Do activities that you enjoy when moving physically.
- Purpose: have a reason for waking up every morning.
- Down Shift: a period during each day for relaxation, shedding stress. i.e. reading, listening to music, meditation, prayer, a glass of wine at 5 (Happy Hour).
- Eat less: stop eating when 80% full. Use smaller servings.
- Eat less meat: most people in the Blue Zones use a diet similar to the Mediterranean diet.
- Drink in moderation: only the group in Loma Linda, California do not drink alcohol, as they are Seventh Day Adventists.
- Have Faith: the denomination doesn't seem to matter, but attending faith based services four times a month is a common denominator.
- Power of Love: families first, then community and friends.
- Stay Social: build a social network that supports healthy behaviors. Connect with others frequently.
A new study demonstrates how lifestyle changes and diet slowed biological aging and extended health span by as much as 3 years. This pilot was a randomized clinical trial of 8 weeks included diet, at least 7 hours of sleep, brisk exercise, relaxation, and supplements with a plant based diet. Participants showed a reversal in markers of biologic aging called epigenetic age. The diet also included supplemental vitamins D, C, zinc, and probiotics. The participants exercised 30 minutes per day, at least 5 days per week, including brisk walking of 60 to 80% of maximum perceived exertion. They also did daily breathing exercises to elicit the Relaxation Response, 20 minutes 2x per day, which reduced stress levels with improved immune functioning.
What We Need to Do: Develop an Anti-inflammatory Lifestyle
- Eat food from the Mediterranean Diet including grains, vegetables, legumes, fish, olive oil, nuts.
- Do regular physical activity, focusing on endurance, strength and flexibility guidelines
- To reduce depression and increase stress resistance, view challenges as temporary and solvable. Don’t dwell on the negative. Rather, seek to find workable solutions. Physical activities and relaxation practices help to relieve depression.
- Try to get at least 7 to 8 hours of restful sleep each night. You might try drinking decaffeinated green tea, chamomile, or valerian.
- Develop resilience. Focusing on optimism and its positive effects can help your immune system. You might explore the cognitive behavior practices in Mind Over Mood, a book by Denise Greenberg.
- Practice meditative mindfulness, being aware and in touch with oneself, and non-judgmental
- Connect and be in touch with others on a daily basis to support brain health
- Try to surround yourself with encouraging, supportive people, and be that kind of person for others.
Pharmacy Tips: the Inside Scoop - Jeff Rucker of Koblin's Sept 10, 2021 click to open, click to close
Our presenter today was Jeff Rucker, the owner of Koblin's and its chief Pharmacist. Jeff began his interest in pharmacy when he worked for the Walgreen Company as a service clerk while he was in high school. He continued to work with Walgreens through college and then graduate school while he earned his Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D) from LIU in 2004. He continued working for Walgreens for five more years, until he began working for the West Milford Pharmacy, and then, fortunately, he came to Koblin's in 2013.
Brand name drugs vs. generic: What's the difference?
There are three main differences:
What Determines Rx Pricing?
One of the CAN members wondered why there is such a big range in the price of some medications, depending on where it is purchased. She used generic Solarize as an example.
Brand pricing is fairly universal, with the price set by the drug company, or, more appropriately, by the insurance company.
Generic pricing is more dynamic. As more and more manufacturers produce it, the price usually drops. However, sometimes a generic never looses its brand price pedigree, as has happened for generic Solarize.
Ultimately the price is whatever the patient or insurance plan is willing to pay. Ideally that amount is higher than its acquisition cost . . . but sometimes not so much.
Dangerous Drug Interactions
There are a few classic examples:
This kind of problem can occur when a new drug is added on to treat a “new condition” that is really just a side effect of the previous medication. Here is the kind of thing that can happen: Blood pressure medication is prescribed. The patient develops postural hypotension, that is, the patient gets dizzy when standing up. The dizziness gets diagnosed and the patient is then prescribed prochlorperazine, which exacerbates the postural hypotension, and that leads to a fall and hip fracture.
What can we do to prevent problems like this one? The easiest way is to make sure your healthcare provider knows of any new medications you may have been prescribed by other your healthcare providers, or over the counter drugs you are taking.
What do we need to know?
First and foremost, know what medications you are on, and more importantly, know WHY you are on them. It is not uncommon for folks to have several providers all prescribing for them, but usually these providers don’t talk to each other.
Use only one pharmacy because it is much easier to keep track of what you are on now and that you were on in the past.
Which Over-the-Counter Medications (OTCs) to Avoid
As we get older it takes longer for us to metabolize medications.
A classic example is the use of any sleep aid such as sleep aids like Sominex, Nytol, or diphenhydramine (Benadryl). They recommend alotting a least 6 to 8 hours for the medication to wear off (about when you’d be waking up). If the medication has not worn off you can have a hangover effect upon waking so that you get out of bed and then have a fall or worse.
What Else Can Your Registered Pharmacist do?
Brand name drugs vs. generic: What's the difference?
There are three main differences:
- Price: Generics are usually far cheaper, since they don't have to make up the cost of research and development, marketing, etc.
- Inactive ingredients: The binders, dyes, preservatives and fillers may be different. These ingredients have no therapeutic impact, but the differences are important to those people who may be allergic to them or who have dietary restrictions.
- Appearance: Due to trademarks and branding, generics may look different, and each medication will have its own unique markings. Differences in appearance have no negative effect and can be helpful in identifying the drug.
What Determines Rx Pricing?
One of the CAN members wondered why there is such a big range in the price of some medications, depending on where it is purchased. She used generic Solarize as an example.
Brand pricing is fairly universal, with the price set by the drug company, or, more appropriately, by the insurance company.
Generic pricing is more dynamic. As more and more manufacturers produce it, the price usually drops. However, sometimes a generic never looses its brand price pedigree, as has happened for generic Solarize.
Ultimately the price is whatever the patient or insurance plan is willing to pay. Ideally that amount is higher than its acquisition cost . . . but sometimes not so much.
Dangerous Drug Interactions
There are a few classic examples:
- Warfarin and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin or ibuprofen when taken together can result in gastric bleeding. Note that acetaminophens such as Tylenol are NOT NSAIDs.
- Warfarin and certain antibiotics taken together can cause bleeding.
- Amiodarone, used to treat serious types of irregular heartbeats, should not be taken with statin medication for high cholesterol.
- Grapefruit juice and statins
This kind of problem can occur when a new drug is added on to treat a “new condition” that is really just a side effect of the previous medication. Here is the kind of thing that can happen: Blood pressure medication is prescribed. The patient develops postural hypotension, that is, the patient gets dizzy when standing up. The dizziness gets diagnosed and the patient is then prescribed prochlorperazine, which exacerbates the postural hypotension, and that leads to a fall and hip fracture.
What can we do to prevent problems like this one? The easiest way is to make sure your healthcare provider knows of any new medications you may have been prescribed by other your healthcare providers, or over the counter drugs you are taking.
What do we need to know?
First and foremost, know what medications you are on, and more importantly, know WHY you are on them. It is not uncommon for folks to have several providers all prescribing for them, but usually these providers don’t talk to each other.
Use only one pharmacy because it is much easier to keep track of what you are on now and that you were on in the past.
Which Over-the-Counter Medications (OTCs) to Avoid
As we get older it takes longer for us to metabolize medications.
A classic example is the use of any sleep aid such as sleep aids like Sominex, Nytol, or diphenhydramine (Benadryl). They recommend alotting a least 6 to 8 hours for the medication to wear off (about when you’d be waking up). If the medication has not worn off you can have a hangover effect upon waking so that you get out of bed and then have a fall or worse.
What Else Can Your Registered Pharmacist do?
- Administer vaccines: Flu, pneumonia, shingrix, tetanus, and Covid-19
- Medication counseling for patients and for prescribers
- General Healthcare. "Let’s be honest," said Jeff, "It’s more likely that you will be able to speak with me on a Sunday morning than with your physician."
Benefit from Yoga, Pilates, and a Combo - Nancy Doherty Sept 24, 2021 click to open, click to close
Nancy began doing yoga in the late 90’s because, she writes, she was “super stressed, very overweight, [and] was having panic attacks due to a high pressure corporate career.” She made a strong connection with yoga and was even encouraged by her teacher to train to be an instructor. One year into that training, she decided she did, indeed, want to leave her corporate job and become a yoga instructor. She writes, “My health improved significantly, panic attacks went away, anxiety went away, cured my IBS and high blood pressure, and it kept me looking younger longer and kept several other health issues from becoming worse. I decided I wanted to teach others so they could be healthy and less stressed too.”
She has been teaching since 2001. Eventually she started to specialize in working with people with physical or mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. She worked with folks with MS. Parkinson’s, and autoimmune diseases.
Move It or Lose It (or why exercise)
Exercise needs to focus on the triangle of cardio, strength and flexibility. Muscle mass decreases as we age. But we have the capacity to increase it or at least maintain our muscle mass as we age. Indeed, being able to maintain our muscle mass is vitally important for retarding the progression of conditions such as various types of arthritis, Parkinson’s disease, and so on. Further, working on building muscle mass helps with balance and functional fitness. But remember: never exercise to the point of pain or exhaustion.
How do I find a good teacher?
There are no requirements that those teaching exercise, fitness and/or yoga must be licensed, but good teachers get licensed anyway. A qualified yoga instructor would complete training with a registered yoga school. Certifications vary: some require 200 hours of training, some require 500 hours, some require a minimum of two years of training. The Yoga Alliance USA is one of the most prominent organizations granting certification through their registered yoga schools (RYS). You should feel free to discuss their training with the instructor and to ask questions. Be sure that your instructor has experience working with folks over 60 or with your specific health concerns. Nancy noted that our own Paula Heitzner is an outstanding Yoga teacher.
What is Yoga?
Yoga is 5,000 years old, and has an influence on other forms of exercise. Many exercises in Pilates are based on yoga. Some of the main principles of yoga are:
Proper exercise
Proper breathing
Proper relaxation
Proper diet and nutrition
Positive thinking and meditation
What is Pilates?
Joseph Pilates developed his form of exercise in the 1920s while working with injured soldiers at the end of World War I. After immigrating to the U.S. from Germany, he worked extensively with dancers. Pilates exercises focus on developing concentration, control, centering, flow, precision and breath. There are two forms of Pilates, one using special equipment, the other using a floor mat only.
What is Combo?
Nancy Doherty combines yoga for flexibility, strength and mood with Pilates for strength. She also uses personal training exercises with and without weights, balance work, breath work, functional fitness for daily living, anatomical and body system discussions and modifications. She demonstrated some of these for us. She wrote, “I developed Combo because I feel it combines the best of several mind/body practices and various forms of exercise, and it opens up my ability to teach functional fitness as well. I stress safety and modifications because not everyone's body is the same. It's helpful for clients because they can all work at their level and modify for their needs versus doing exactly what everyone else is doing. It's kind of like have a private class but doing it with other people (and of course, we always have some networking or sharing going on as well because folks like being social).
Less is more (making use of modifications)
Only do 75 to 80% of what you can do. It is important that you protect your joints. Sometimes props are useful for modifications.
Anyone can breathe
Nancy demonstrated a breathing exercise that anyone can do. Put the palms of your hands at your sides, thumb to the back, fingers pointing forward. Feel your ribs move as you breathe in and out. Now increase the depth of your breathing in and out and feel your ribs move. Do this for a few minutes two or three times a day to increase abdominal strength and gain the benefits of better breathing.
She has been teaching since 2001. Eventually she started to specialize in working with people with physical or mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. She worked with folks with MS. Parkinson’s, and autoimmune diseases.
Move It or Lose It (or why exercise)
Exercise needs to focus on the triangle of cardio, strength and flexibility. Muscle mass decreases as we age. But we have the capacity to increase it or at least maintain our muscle mass as we age. Indeed, being able to maintain our muscle mass is vitally important for retarding the progression of conditions such as various types of arthritis, Parkinson’s disease, and so on. Further, working on building muscle mass helps with balance and functional fitness. But remember: never exercise to the point of pain or exhaustion.
How do I find a good teacher?
There are no requirements that those teaching exercise, fitness and/or yoga must be licensed, but good teachers get licensed anyway. A qualified yoga instructor would complete training with a registered yoga school. Certifications vary: some require 200 hours of training, some require 500 hours, some require a minimum of two years of training. The Yoga Alliance USA is one of the most prominent organizations granting certification through their registered yoga schools (RYS). You should feel free to discuss their training with the instructor and to ask questions. Be sure that your instructor has experience working with folks over 60 or with your specific health concerns. Nancy noted that our own Paula Heitzner is an outstanding Yoga teacher.
What is Yoga?
Yoga is 5,000 years old, and has an influence on other forms of exercise. Many exercises in Pilates are based on yoga. Some of the main principles of yoga are:
Proper exercise
Proper breathing
Proper relaxation
Proper diet and nutrition
Positive thinking and meditation
What is Pilates?
Joseph Pilates developed his form of exercise in the 1920s while working with injured soldiers at the end of World War I. After immigrating to the U.S. from Germany, he worked extensively with dancers. Pilates exercises focus on developing concentration, control, centering, flow, precision and breath. There are two forms of Pilates, one using special equipment, the other using a floor mat only.
What is Combo?
Nancy Doherty combines yoga for flexibility, strength and mood with Pilates for strength. She also uses personal training exercises with and without weights, balance work, breath work, functional fitness for daily living, anatomical and body system discussions and modifications. She demonstrated some of these for us. She wrote, “I developed Combo because I feel it combines the best of several mind/body practices and various forms of exercise, and it opens up my ability to teach functional fitness as well. I stress safety and modifications because not everyone's body is the same. It's helpful for clients because they can all work at their level and modify for their needs versus doing exactly what everyone else is doing. It's kind of like have a private class but doing it with other people (and of course, we always have some networking or sharing going on as well because folks like being social).
Less is more (making use of modifications)
Only do 75 to 80% of what you can do. It is important that you protect your joints. Sometimes props are useful for modifications.
Anyone can breathe
Nancy demonstrated a breathing exercise that anyone can do. Put the palms of your hands at your sides, thumb to the back, fingers pointing forward. Feel your ribs move as you breathe in and out. Now increase the depth of your breathing in and out and feel your ribs move. Do this for a few minutes two or three times a day to increase abdominal strength and gain the benefits of better breathing.
The Gilded Age in Nyack, 1870 - 1900 - Mike Hays Oct 8, 2021 click to open, click to close
The gilded age of 1870 to 1900 was a time of a booming economy, but it was also a time of the railroad barons, and income inequality. It was also a time of disputed elections in 1876 and 1888, unrest as the country split over the issues of Women’s Suffrage and of Temperance. It was also a time of political corruption, including Tammany Hall.
At the height of the gilded age Nyack was the “Gem of the Hudson,” a summer resort for the wealthy to escape the heat and disease of the cities. The very wealthy began buying Nyack farms and building summer estates. The local economy was booming. Middle class residents built the Victorian houses that still line our streets. The Village was a business and shopping center, and small factories provided jobs for the working class.
Transportation to Nyack
To meet the demand for access to the area, transportation improved with the Northern Railroad, the Nyack Ferry , the West Shore Railroad, steamboats and stagecoaches. The magnificent paddlewheel steamboat The Chrystenah, built in Nyack by the Smith Brothers, ran from Poughkeepsie to New York City with a stop in Nyack. The Northern Railroad spur to Nyack from the Jersey City-Sparkill line opened in 1870 and lasted until 1965. Nyack was the end of the line. A turntable was used to turn the engines around. By 1876, ten trains a day ran to Jersey City.
Although ferries ran between Nyack and Tarrytown for many years prior to 1872, the service became standard with a steamboat operating back and forth all day except when the Hudson was frozen.
Coaches and carriages would transport visitors to the dock or to the train station.
Hotels
During these years, summer resorts and hotels thrived in Nyack, including Prospect House, Pavilion, Tappan Zee House, the Ivanhoe, the St. George, the St. Nicholas, and the Opera House. Prospect House (1876-1897), a three and a half story wooden Victorian building, had 150 sleeping rooms, a 100’ long dining room that accommodated 225, a huge parlor and wraparound porch. The property included walking and riding trails over the mountain. It was located on S. Highland Ave where it turns west over the mountain.
On June 2, 1898 a destructive fire broke out just as the hotel was opening for the season. With no nearby water source, the building burned to the ground. Flames could be seen up and down the river.
Mansions
The mansions built during these years were magnificent, including Pretty Penny, the Hand Mansion on Franklin south of Cedar Hill Ave, Glen Iris and Glen Holme. Undercliff was built in 1885 by Arthur Tucker on North Broadway in Upper Nyack. When Tucker married, he paid for 150 people to come up from New York City on a special train. The mansion had 22 rooms with a kitchen where food could be prepared for 200 people. The property had a terraced landscape down to the river and dock. Tucker raised violets in his green houses at the corner of Midland and Larchdale.
Businesses
What of the businesses in the area? Shoe manufacturing, originally a cottage industry, became mechanized in factories on Mill Street. There were sleigh and carriage factories, ship building down at the river, piano factories, Blauvelt Drug Store (now Koblin’s), Luleich’s Bakery, Hopper’s Dry Goods, Schmitt’s, and numerous fruit and meat markets. Schmitt’s Candy and Ice Cream at 84 Main Street was a 3-story brick building erected in 1890 next to Luleich’s bakery. It featured a marble-top soda fountain along one wall with booths and parlor tables in the back and was known for the hand-made candy hearts and boxed chocolates. It became the Clock diner in 1958, then the Skylark, Johnnycakes, and now Burger and Breakfast Bar. In those days, the YMCA was also located on Main Street across from Schmitt’s.
One of the businesses typical of small manufacturing in Nyack was the Sturtevant Piano Factory at Third and Broadway, started by Sumner Sturtevant who had been a piano maker in New York City. It later became the Tallman Piano & Organ Factory.
Entertainment
Sports of various kinds were very popular in Nyack, including bicycling clubs, harness racing, swimming, rowing, walking and hiking, and boating. Rowing was probably more popular than baseball in the Gilded Age
The Nyack Rowing Association formed in 1880. Only men could be members, but Wednesday was women’s day, and women could attend social events there. Indeed, often they were the ones to organize the social events. The clubhouse was built on a pier at the end of Spear Street. The first floor held boats and oars, the second floor was a ballroom, the third floor had dressing rooms, and the tower held a billiard room.
Moonlit Summer Barge Party, an etching by Julian Davidson, a Nyack marine painter and co-founder of the rowing club, appeared in Harper’s Weekly.
Mike noted that in researching the history of Nyack’s gilded age, he found no references to the sizable Black population of the area. It is a sad comment on our history that the lives of Black people were often ignored in public media such as newspapers.
At the height of the gilded age Nyack was the “Gem of the Hudson,” a summer resort for the wealthy to escape the heat and disease of the cities. The very wealthy began buying Nyack farms and building summer estates. The local economy was booming. Middle class residents built the Victorian houses that still line our streets. The Village was a business and shopping center, and small factories provided jobs for the working class.
Transportation to Nyack
To meet the demand for access to the area, transportation improved with the Northern Railroad, the Nyack Ferry , the West Shore Railroad, steamboats and stagecoaches. The magnificent paddlewheel steamboat The Chrystenah, built in Nyack by the Smith Brothers, ran from Poughkeepsie to New York City with a stop in Nyack. The Northern Railroad spur to Nyack from the Jersey City-Sparkill line opened in 1870 and lasted until 1965. Nyack was the end of the line. A turntable was used to turn the engines around. By 1876, ten trains a day ran to Jersey City.
Although ferries ran between Nyack and Tarrytown for many years prior to 1872, the service became standard with a steamboat operating back and forth all day except when the Hudson was frozen.
Coaches and carriages would transport visitors to the dock or to the train station.
Hotels
During these years, summer resorts and hotels thrived in Nyack, including Prospect House, Pavilion, Tappan Zee House, the Ivanhoe, the St. George, the St. Nicholas, and the Opera House. Prospect House (1876-1897), a three and a half story wooden Victorian building, had 150 sleeping rooms, a 100’ long dining room that accommodated 225, a huge parlor and wraparound porch. The property included walking and riding trails over the mountain. It was located on S. Highland Ave where it turns west over the mountain.
On June 2, 1898 a destructive fire broke out just as the hotel was opening for the season. With no nearby water source, the building burned to the ground. Flames could be seen up and down the river.
Mansions
The mansions built during these years were magnificent, including Pretty Penny, the Hand Mansion on Franklin south of Cedar Hill Ave, Glen Iris and Glen Holme. Undercliff was built in 1885 by Arthur Tucker on North Broadway in Upper Nyack. When Tucker married, he paid for 150 people to come up from New York City on a special train. The mansion had 22 rooms with a kitchen where food could be prepared for 200 people. The property had a terraced landscape down to the river and dock. Tucker raised violets in his green houses at the corner of Midland and Larchdale.
Businesses
What of the businesses in the area? Shoe manufacturing, originally a cottage industry, became mechanized in factories on Mill Street. There were sleigh and carriage factories, ship building down at the river, piano factories, Blauvelt Drug Store (now Koblin’s), Luleich’s Bakery, Hopper’s Dry Goods, Schmitt’s, and numerous fruit and meat markets. Schmitt’s Candy and Ice Cream at 84 Main Street was a 3-story brick building erected in 1890 next to Luleich’s bakery. It featured a marble-top soda fountain along one wall with booths and parlor tables in the back and was known for the hand-made candy hearts and boxed chocolates. It became the Clock diner in 1958, then the Skylark, Johnnycakes, and now Burger and Breakfast Bar. In those days, the YMCA was also located on Main Street across from Schmitt’s.
One of the businesses typical of small manufacturing in Nyack was the Sturtevant Piano Factory at Third and Broadway, started by Sumner Sturtevant who had been a piano maker in New York City. It later became the Tallman Piano & Organ Factory.
Entertainment
Sports of various kinds were very popular in Nyack, including bicycling clubs, harness racing, swimming, rowing, walking and hiking, and boating. Rowing was probably more popular than baseball in the Gilded Age
The Nyack Rowing Association formed in 1880. Only men could be members, but Wednesday was women’s day, and women could attend social events there. Indeed, often they were the ones to organize the social events. The clubhouse was built on a pier at the end of Spear Street. The first floor held boats and oars, the second floor was a ballroom, the third floor had dressing rooms, and the tower held a billiard room.
Moonlit Summer Barge Party, an etching by Julian Davidson, a Nyack marine painter and co-founder of the rowing club, appeared in Harper’s Weekly.
Mike noted that in researching the history of Nyack’s gilded age, he found no references to the sizable Black population of the area. It is a sad comment on our history that the lives of Black people were often ignored in public media such as newspapers.
Protect Yourself from Scams - Martha A. Gabriel Nov 5, 2021 click to open, click to close
“Do your part: Be Cyber Smart”. Scams have been around forever.
Phishing Scams
People in our age group, 65 plus years old, are often seen as easy targets for scams, especially people who are single or widowed and living alone, people who recently moved, and people who are disabled. Some of the common scams senior citizens encounter are phishing emails, texts, or phone calls. With these, scammers are not targeting a particular individuals, but are tossing out a wide net hoping unsuspecting people will get caught in their scheme. Phishing scams are phone calls, emails, or text messages that appear to be from a trusted person, company or organization (IRS, FBI, Amazon, Social Security, Medicare, car warranties, credit card companies, etc.). They are instead from scammers asking you to provide personal information including asking you for account numbers because of supposed billing problems or alleged hacking of your account. To learn more, go to: https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2019/phishing.html
Other Common Scams
Other scams include grandparent scams in which a scammer pretends to be your grandchild in desperate need of cash, or a home improvement scam in which you would pay up-front for work that will never get done, or a reverse mortgage. Known as a home equity conversion mortgage (HECM), reverse mortgages are complex loans that need to be approached with caution. Originally intended to allow seniors to live off the equity in their homes, the reverse mortgage market is now replete with scammers. Scammers steal some or all of the equity seniors have in their homes through offers of investment opportunities and refinancing assistance. Major banks have exited this market. Those banks that remain are listed at www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0192-reverse-mortgages.
Scammers may claim they can provide tech support, or counterfeit prescriptions, or help you with online shopping. They may con you into proving them with information that allows them to take your money or identity information.
Pharmacy Scams
Online pharmacy scams are a growing area of online fraud. These are rogue pharmacies, often representing themselves as Canadian companies, advertising low cost medications. The medications, if provided, are mislabeled, expired, ineffective or laced with different toxic substances. For accredited online pharmacies go to:
https://nabp.pharmacy/programs/accreditations-inspections/digital-pharmacy/accredited-digital-pharmacies/
Malware Alert Scam
This scam may pop up on your computer with a warning such as
Malware Alert Scam. Computer Infected. CLICK HERE Or a warning that your computer has been infected and is going to crash. But DO NOT click! Shut down your computer. Pull the plug. If you can, turn off your WIFI, or unplug your system.
Protecting Yourself
“Be Cyber Smart”
Here are a few tips for keeping your information safe.
Use a password manager. If you are creating your own passwords, make them at least 8 characters and use random letters, numbers and symbols. WRITE THEM DOWN in one place that is private, like a small notebook you keep in one place.
Two Factor Authentication
Use two factor authentication. This means that in addition to entering your password, you elect to receive a code to your cellphone by text or to your home phone by voice. You may already be using a form of two factor authentication, such as having to enter your zip code at the pump when you get gas using your card.
Security Breaches
Be alert to security breaches in companies where you have accounts. If a merchant or institution announces a breach, go into your account with them, change your password. Be sure to go to Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion to purchase 90 day fraud protection. Even if you have not been hacked, it’s a good idea to check your credit rating. On AnnualCreditReport.com you are entitled to a free annual credit report from each of the three credit reporting agencies. These agencies include Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
Clicking on Links? Just Say No . . .
To opening any links that you do not trust 100%. When you see a link that has been sent to you, think – does this seem quite right? Think again. Do not click unless you are sure. Even if it comes from a friend, if the context around the link is not right, do not click.
Be sure not to provide your private information, Social Security number, Medicare number, Bank account information, or IRS information. Legitimate organizations such as your credit card company will not ask for this information over the phone unless you are the one make the call to your bank or another organization and they then want to verify your identity. Scammers may even pose as FBI Fraud Units. Don’t fall for scammers devious ploys.
In the same way, say no all tech support invitations. If you have a tech problem and reach out to a legitimate source of help such as Apple, that is one thing, but if someone sends you an alert and offers to “fix” it, do not fall for their scam.
Often scammers tell you they need you to pay in the form of gift cards. As soon as you hear that, you KNOW it is a scam.
If you are scammed,
Being the victim of a scam takes an emotional toll that can include confusion, self-blame, and depression. It can also be a very frustrating experience because it takes considerable time to get everything replaced. It can seven months up to years. It will also require you to continue using Fraud Protection.
Phishing Scams
People in our age group, 65 plus years old, are often seen as easy targets for scams, especially people who are single or widowed and living alone, people who recently moved, and people who are disabled. Some of the common scams senior citizens encounter are phishing emails, texts, or phone calls. With these, scammers are not targeting a particular individuals, but are tossing out a wide net hoping unsuspecting people will get caught in their scheme. Phishing scams are phone calls, emails, or text messages that appear to be from a trusted person, company or organization (IRS, FBI, Amazon, Social Security, Medicare, car warranties, credit card companies, etc.). They are instead from scammers asking you to provide personal information including asking you for account numbers because of supposed billing problems or alleged hacking of your account. To learn more, go to: https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2019/phishing.html
Other Common Scams
Other scams include grandparent scams in which a scammer pretends to be your grandchild in desperate need of cash, or a home improvement scam in which you would pay up-front for work that will never get done, or a reverse mortgage. Known as a home equity conversion mortgage (HECM), reverse mortgages are complex loans that need to be approached with caution. Originally intended to allow seniors to live off the equity in their homes, the reverse mortgage market is now replete with scammers. Scammers steal some or all of the equity seniors have in their homes through offers of investment opportunities and refinancing assistance. Major banks have exited this market. Those banks that remain are listed at www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0192-reverse-mortgages.
Scammers may claim they can provide tech support, or counterfeit prescriptions, or help you with online shopping. They may con you into proving them with information that allows them to take your money or identity information.
Pharmacy Scams
Online pharmacy scams are a growing area of online fraud. These are rogue pharmacies, often representing themselves as Canadian companies, advertising low cost medications. The medications, if provided, are mislabeled, expired, ineffective or laced with different toxic substances. For accredited online pharmacies go to:
https://nabp.pharmacy/programs/accreditations-inspections/digital-pharmacy/accredited-digital-pharmacies/
Malware Alert Scam
This scam may pop up on your computer with a warning such as
Malware Alert Scam. Computer Infected. CLICK HERE Or a warning that your computer has been infected and is going to crash. But DO NOT click! Shut down your computer. Pull the plug. If you can, turn off your WIFI, or unplug your system.
Protecting Yourself
“Be Cyber Smart”
Here are a few tips for keeping your information safe.
- Shred paper documents that have personal information. If you don’t have a shredder, the UPS store in Congers will shred documents for you, and there are other shredding services around.
- When you mail letters, drop them into the new type of U.S. mailbox that has just a slot at the top, not an opening that pulls down.
- Review all of your statements about your bank accounts, credit cards accounts, and Medicare use. If anything looks wrong, contact the bank, credit card customer service, or your Medicare insurance company.
- Use passwords on all your accounts. Each password should be distinct. Do not use the same password for more than one account. Use public computers only to send emails, look up information on websites. Do not log into your private accounts or use passwords on public computers.
- When you create passwords, avoid family names, pet’s names, special dates, hometowns and other information that is available in cyber space
Use a password manager. If you are creating your own passwords, make them at least 8 characters and use random letters, numbers and symbols. WRITE THEM DOWN in one place that is private, like a small notebook you keep in one place.
Two Factor Authentication
Use two factor authentication. This means that in addition to entering your password, you elect to receive a code to your cellphone by text or to your home phone by voice. You may already be using a form of two factor authentication, such as having to enter your zip code at the pump when you get gas using your card.
Security Breaches
Be alert to security breaches in companies where you have accounts. If a merchant or institution announces a breach, go into your account with them, change your password. Be sure to go to Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion to purchase 90 day fraud protection. Even if you have not been hacked, it’s a good idea to check your credit rating. On AnnualCreditReport.com you are entitled to a free annual credit report from each of the three credit reporting agencies. These agencies include Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
Clicking on Links? Just Say No . . .
To opening any links that you do not trust 100%. When you see a link that has been sent to you, think – does this seem quite right? Think again. Do not click unless you are sure. Even if it comes from a friend, if the context around the link is not right, do not click.
Be sure not to provide your private information, Social Security number, Medicare number, Bank account information, or IRS information. Legitimate organizations such as your credit card company will not ask for this information over the phone unless you are the one make the call to your bank or another organization and they then want to verify your identity. Scammers may even pose as FBI Fraud Units. Don’t fall for scammers devious ploys.
In the same way, say no all tech support invitations. If you have a tech problem and reach out to a legitimate source of help such as Apple, that is one thing, but if someone sends you an alert and offers to “fix” it, do not fall for their scam.
Often scammers tell you they need you to pay in the form of gift cards. As soon as you hear that, you KNOW it is a scam.
If you are scammed,
- Call family or a friend to help you (because you will feel shaken by the experience)
- Make a police report
- Contact your banks, credit cards, the Department of Motor Vehicles, Social Security, Medicare
- Contact the credit companies (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax). As noted above, they provide a 90 day free alert of action in our accounts.
Being the victim of a scam takes an emotional toll that can include confusion, self-blame, and depression. It can also be a very frustrating experience because it takes considerable time to get everything replaced. It can seven months up to years. It will also require you to continue using Fraud Protection.
Helpful Resources
AARP Fraud Watch Helpline 877-908-3360
AARP “Scams and Fraud.” Alerts, articles, and other resources: https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/about-fraud-watch-network/
Office of the New York Attorney General ag.ny.gov. 800-771-7755
Medicare has information about frauds including tips to prevent fraud, how to spot Medicare fraud, and how to report Medicare fraud. Go to https://www.medicare.gov/forms-help-resources/help-fight-medicare-fraud 800-633-4227
National Do Not Call Registry https://www.donotcall.gov
Credit Protection Companies
Experian fraud and Identity theft. https://www.experian.com/fraud/center.html 1-888-397-3742
Equifax Fraud Alert 800-685-1111 https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-fraud-alerts/
TransUnion Fraud Assistance 800-525-6285. https://www.transunion.com/fraud-alerts
AARP “Scams and Fraud.” Alerts, articles, and other resources: https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/about-fraud-watch-network/
Office of the New York Attorney General ag.ny.gov. 800-771-7755
Medicare has information about frauds including tips to prevent fraud, how to spot Medicare fraud, and how to report Medicare fraud. Go to https://www.medicare.gov/forms-help-resources/help-fight-medicare-fraud 800-633-4227
National Do Not Call Registry https://www.donotcall.gov
Credit Protection Companies
Experian fraud and Identity theft. https://www.experian.com/fraud/center.html 1-888-397-3742
Equifax Fraud Alert 800-685-1111 https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-fraud-alerts/
TransUnion Fraud Assistance 800-525-6285. https://www.transunion.com/fraud-alerts