Last week I mentioned Granny D briefly. If you missed her story a few years back, here are the cliff notes: At the age of 89 Granny D, AKA Doris Haddock, decided that campaign fund raising was out of control. The millions of dollars donated to candidates for election and reelection and the potential for that money to influence the decisions made while in office drove her to demonstrate for reform. She chose a cross-country walk as her forum and starting in Los Angeles, walked 3200 miles ending in the District of Columbia. She was arrested while reading the declaration of independence. It took 14 months and four pairs of sneakers. In 2004 she ran for a senate office in New Hampshire and was defeated by the Republican incumbent as expected. She started her campaign only four months before the election but still got 37 % of the vote! Granny D is an older adult who brought a sense of fairness and honesty to the process of electing our leadership.
This year the decision seems to be centered on the conservatism of keeping the government out of private business, and a liberal use of the governments potential for good works, in social programs and controlling the behavior of industrial giants. We know that charity that is only from the good intentions of people doesn’t get spread around to all who need it. We know that a business will answer to it’s stockholders about cash flow before it answers to them about pollution and fair treatment of employees. Government can do those things. But we also know a government that is allowed to control it’s citizens will do so without considering those individual’s rights over the office and needs of the government. So what do we do? How does an older adult balance that caution with need? How will you decide to vote? Thank God I’m not running for office.

Following the presidential primary election at the beginning of the month, I’ve been thinking about politics. I work at the polls on Election Day. I have done so for a couple of years now and at several different polling places. I have had a chance to see and talk to voters for thirteen hours of voting. In this primary there were many young women who turned out with such a specific mission in mind that they couldn’t contain it. They came to vote for a woman president.
Older adults are the most noticeable age group at the polls that I once tried to get a survey on senior services passed out to them at election time because the volume of seniors is so high. But seniors don’t vote as a block. There isn’t coordination, even by special interest lobby groups like AARP. I see how advocates for children and youth turn out and speak up in implementation of prop 63 meetings while older adult advocates have trouble figuring out whom each other are. Children’s advocates get their tactics and strategy in place. Since the squeaky wheel gets the grease, you know where the money goes!
I know there is concern for the process. I was recently reminded of Granny D, the 90 year-old woman from New Hampshire that walked from Pasadena to Washington DC in 1999 to protest for campaign finance reform. She was so peeved about the near outright purchase of elected officials that she spent a year on the road to make her point heard. I have a hope that the talent, experience and skills that retired workers possess will be applied to shifting the platforms of the major parties to older adult issues. I hope that the budget crisis doesn’t decimate programs like adult protective services because no one worries about the older adult vote.

As of this writing, the weather prediction for the Camellia Parade weekend is showers. I’ve seen it rain so hard the parade was cancelled, but we usually have a day sunny enough that those of us who walk the mile from Sultana to Rowland with the kids every year can get a mild sunburn. It makes me wonder what the rest of the country is enjoying after the ground hog made his prediction.
The news in Durango is an 89 year-old woman went out on her patio to rearrange things that got wet and the door locked behind her. A six-foot snowdrift blocked her exit so she used an ax to bust into her own home. In Michigan a 71 year-old guy was complaining that he had to drive 150 miles to Lansing in the snow to collect his mega millions ticket winnings. He thought it was too much trouble for the $150 he calculated he had won. It turned out to be worth it when he was told he won a quarter million dollars.
My weather icon tracks the temperatures in Temple City and in Wauwatosa Wisconsin to see what conditions the in-laws are having. I enjoy seeing how many days the high temp there doesn’t reach the low temp here. It only met once so far this winter. They must’ve been dreaming of a white Presidents day this year. Despite the floods and droughts, earthquakes and smog, I think there is a distinct advantage to never worrying about frostbite when I walk the dog. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for a sunny parade and a memorable hometown celebration for the kids of Temple City. And if it is warm, take a senior out to see the scouts, bands, floats and schools. Bring a lawn chair and hat for them.

Last Friday was the American Physical Therapy Association convention in Tennessee. One of the activities they did was a toll free hotline with fall information. I called to discuss a few things with a charming young therapist named Ms. Davenport. Some of the suggestions she offers include an evaluation by a PT for balance and gait. There were a few exercises she described that show problems that are likely to lead to falls for seniors. Doing things that challenge your balance so that your nervous system has to keep fit to keep you upright is the key. When she found out I was calling from sunny southern California she brought up walking on the beach, sand making it harder to walk automatically.
I asked her specifically about a story from that day’s news on the Wii. If you remember a few weeks back I noted a commercial on TV with some seniors bowling together in virtual reality. Well, even though it’s not marketed for rehab, the Wii is enjoying huge success with occupational and other therapies for stroke, paralysis and other conditions. The physical therapy association isn’t endorsing it specifically but Ms. Davenport did encourage using any game that reduced the boredom of exercise, and increases strength, coordination and endurance.
I decided a trial of Wii Sports was in order. There are several games on this program; boxing, tennis, bowling and golf are each played with a few light handles in front of a TV screen that senses your hand motion. Not only can you work up a good sweat playing the games, they are entertaining enough to make you want to go back the next day. Since I’ve reached the bottom, here’s the bottom line: Do some exercise, it’s better if you enjoy doing it.

I asked the girl scouts what to write about this week and I was surprised at the insight. “Valentines Day of course!” In case there is a question of my connecting the girl scouts to senior concerns, I draw the connection from the social sciences. A study being published in England has described human happiness as following a U curve. The happiest times in the life span are at the beginning and at the end. Middle age is the most miserable. 44 years old is the peak of unhappiness in England, in the US it’s about 50. So there are common experiences for the most separate age groups. I pointed this out in considering foul language a few weeks ago. I guess all that cussing makes us in the middle less blissful.
Another concern I have regarding the upcoming romantic holiday is the high-risk sexual behavior that older adults may experience because they are no longer worried about unwanted pregnancies. HIV and other STDs are still increasing fastest among older adults compared to other age groups. It is preventable. It does require talking about it. I hope the conversation is nicely coded so no one breaks the mood, but you still have to decide who’s stopping at the store for protection. I haven’t been able to check out the resources for folks that are dependant on a caretaker for shopping. What does a resident in assisted living do? Call the city dial-a-ride for a trip to the 99 cent store? If they have a spouse, it isn’t an issue, although I am still trying to adjust my own thinking to the Sandra Day O’Connor story about her husband with Alzheimer’s finding a new sweetheart in his nursing home because he doesn’t remember being married. Justice O’Connor’s ability to understand and accept the situation called “mistaken attachment” must be the root of that upward trend in happiness that the Brit’s have found in their study. I only hope to live so long. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Health news this week is both good and bad. A study to be published on February 5 in Circulation, a journal for cardiologists, tells how a little exercise- two hours a week of walking for instance, can cut the risk in half for “premature death.” It doesn’t take Jack Lalane workouts to produce real results. Very high fitness levels reduce the risk further, but just getting off the sofa once or twice a day to take a brisk walk will have an effect. I see an ad for Wii, a television / computer game where a bunch of older guys are enjoying virtual bowling. It beats paying a couple bucks a game and does work up a sweat!
The other piece is about how women who have to pay as little as ten bucks, as co-pay will skip their mammogram. Medicare managed care plans usually ask for a small out of pocket to reduce the insurance companies cost. As it turns out, the costs increase because more women develop more serious cancer without this screening.
Lastly, and this has limited information behind it, they are starting to suggest that gastric surgery- banding was the case study, rather than bypass which is more frequent here in the US, is a diabetes cure. In Australia, they are suggesting that so many diabetics get off all meds after a surgery to reduce stomach size that it qualifies as a cure for diabetes. Many of the patients I’ve met report significant changes in their blood sugar controlling meds. If you are obese and diabetic, it’s worth looking into!
So again I end up sounding like a mother hen to people old enough to be my parents. Get some exercise. Go to the doctor for heath maintenance. Now a radical suggestion: diets work for very few obese people. Gastric surgery works for almost all of them. If you’ve been dieting for 50 years and are still too heavy, check out something that has proven to save lives.

As a follow-up to my recent advice to get some computer skills and get on the web, I thought it wise to let you all in on the following: I have won the lottery! Now you won’t see me on The Big Spin show or anything like that because I didn’t win the California lottery. It’s the Irish Lottery! And I didn’t only win once, I won twice! Oddly the same fellow, A Mr. Anthony Chagnot has notified me of both prizes without noting the other. If I email him my contact information, he can wire the money directly to my account! Funny, I don’t remember buying a ticket. And Ireland doesn’t have a lottery. I also get weekly offers to get me my inheritance from family I didn’t have. Also I could help a guy in a Nigerian bank get some money out of the country. One more scam is to send a real looking note to confirm your password, by a bank or other financial institution. This is called phishing. They get your email address somewhere. Mine is published in a newspaper every week. They send this nonsense to a thousand internet users and if just one or two bites, they have a phish on the line! With a few promises of wealth they get the number to an account and authorization to drain it every month when a pension check comes in by direct deposit. Sometimes I ask the phisher to send me proof of his good intentions. I want a photo in front of the bank where he works. Sometimes I ask him to wear a distinctive garment, so I know it’s him. A pink dress is my favorite. I like the idea of some fat guy in Bakersfield trying to figure out if he really should get a picture of the Bahrain Bank of UK with a guy in a pink dress out in front of the building. I never hear back from them. All in all, be careful, even in virtual reality, there are crooks everywhere.