Wesley Wheelers’ First CyberCycle Competition

By Dan Chang, resident at Wesley Palms Retirement Community

A few weeks before a national CyberCycle competition took place among senior communities, Wesley Palms Retirement Community had a chance to get acquainted with this stationary smart bike. Equipped with virtual reality screens, CyberCycle connects riders from all over the world and allows them to compete with each other.

The goal of the national competition was for a team to ride as many miles as possible during a week. Since many of our team members had only ridden the bike a couple of times before the competition began our goal was simple: the Wesley Wheelers were determined to stay out of last place! However, by the third day of the competition, we learned that we were in sixth place nationwide, out of a total of 85 teams. This generated a wave of enthusiasm and a desire to hang on to that position! By the fifth day of the competition we learned that we were only about 10 miles behind a team from Alaska that was in fifth place. That night we managed to pass the Alaskans to take over fifth place and were determined not to let them recapture the lead.

We needed to build up an insurmountable lead, about 20 miles, by midnight during the last

day of the competition. However, at dinner hour the day before, we learned that we were only a few miles behind the fourth place team in New Jersey. This ignited another wave of enthusiasm and adrenaline. That night and the next morning we rode a few extra miles allowing us to pass the New Jersey team by breakfast on Saturday morning. Knowing that the race would end for us that night, the team decided to keep the bike as “busy” as possible all day Saturday to try to stay in fourth place. The lead for fourth place changed during the day and we were passed by New Jersey during the lunch hour. Two of our grittier teammates, Barbara and Phyllis, determined that they were not going to let that happen again during our dinner hour. They kept the bike busy through dinner. Well, needless to say, we passed the New Jersey team when they stopped to have their dinner. We kept riding until 9 pm PDT (12 midnight EDT). They never caught up and by then, we had built a 40-mile lead over the Alaskans so we stopped to party!

We learned a lot about ourselves, teamwork and sportsmanship during the event. Especially from the first place team from Santa Barbara. It turned out that our top rider, Dan,

was in fourth place in the individual rider’s competition, and only a few miles ahead of two of the Santa Barbara riders during the last hours of the competition. He was also only a few miles behind the third place rider (also from Santa Barbara). So our strategy was to continue to ride intermittently in order to keep the third place competitor riding, thereby preventing the fifth and sixth place riders from catching up (since Santa Barbara only had one CyberCycle). Unbeknownst to Dan, the lead riders for the Santa Barbara team had stopped riding in order to allow as many of the entire team’s riders to achieve 10 miles in order to get their “badges” and “T-shirt” for the competition. Their lead riders sacrificed their potential third and fourth-place individual rider finishes and Dan wound up in third place even though any one of those three riders could have easily passed him. What a great lesson in teamwork and sportsmanship!

Learn more about CyberCycle from our sister community, Fredericka Manor HERE.

9 Ways Family Caregivers Can Get a Break

Here's how to get respite care, and sometimes get help paying for it
 By Sherri Snelling for Next Avenue

 

Credit: Adobe Stock

“Respite care” can be a little difficult to understand. The words don’t make it clear who is being helped. The “care” goes to the person who needs it due to illness or disability. The “respite” — a chance to rest and recharge — goes to the family member or other volunteer who would normally be on the spot, doing the caring. As for who gets helped by this? Everybody does.

“If family caregivers don’t take the time needed to care for themselves, we will face an additional health care crisis,” says Lily Sarafan, CEO of California-based Home Care Assistance, which provides support services including respite care. “Caregiver burnout can be associated with serious health issues including depression, and yet burnout is still not recognized as a real health issue in the eyes of many caregivers. Families and communities need to develop sustainable care plans that do not just rely on a single individual.”

Even when caregivers do recognize their need for respite, they might not seek it. For many, it’s hard to carve out the time or money to arrange respite care.

One place that tries to make the process easier for caregivers is the nonprofit ARCH National Respite Network and Resource Center. ARCH is a searchable online state-by-state guide to respite service providers and sources of funding to help pay for care.

“Don’t wait until a crisis to use respite,” says Jill Kagan, ARCH’s program director. “If you wait until you are overwhelmed, it is less effective than if you plan consistent respite breaks.”

Here are eight more places that can help families get respite care:

Government-Funded Programs for Respite Care

Eldercare.gov / Your Local Area Agency on Aging — Eldercare.gov is run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration on Aging. It has a searchable locator feature for finding aging and caregiving resources, and it will lead you to one of the best one-stop-shops for help in your region, your local Area Agency on Aging (AAA). AAAs are knowledgeable about all federal, state and local programs that might apply to your situation, including respite services and any financial aid that might be available to you. There are, for example, waiver and voucher programs that provide free respite care covered by Medicaid for those who meet program requirements. Kagan cautions that the waiting list for these programs is long, however. AAAs also administer federal dollars from initiatives such as the National Family Caregiver Support Program. Federal money that AAAs distribute to service providers in your community helps subsidize those services and lowers out-of-pocket costs for families.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs — If you are caring for a veteran, look into the respite care provisions of the Veterans Administration (VA) Standard Medical Benefits Package, which allows for 30 days of free respite care per year for qualifying veterans and caregivers. The respite can be provided in the home, through an adult day care center or through VA nursing homes called Community Living Centers.

Legacy Corps — This program for military families and caregivers is part of AmeriCorps, run by the federal Corporation for National and Community Service. Legacy Corps volunteers, many of them military veterans and caregivers themselves, provide companionship in the home to care recipients — up to 10 hours a week, in some cases — allowing the family caregiver to take a break. Caregivers must apply and be accepted. Get more information on Legacy Corps through the VA Benefits Administration office in your area or through your region’s Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC). Most ADRCs are part of an Area Agency on Aging. If your ADRC is a separate entity, your AAA will be able to help you connect with it.

Nonprofit Grant Providers for Respite Care

Some organizations offer support specific to the illness or disability a family is dealing with, including these two programs for Alzheimer’s respite care:

Hilarity for Charity — This nonprofit, started by actor-comedian Seth Rogen and his wife Lauren Miller Rogen, has provided grants for 191,000 hours of respite care for families living with Alzheimer’s disease. Care is provided by Hilarity for Charity’s partner in this project, the Home Instead Senior Care Network. Caregivers can apply at Hilarity for Charity.

Alzheimer’s Foundation of America—The foundation provides annual grants to its nonprofit member organizations for respite care in local communities. Find out which organizations provide grants to caregivers at the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America website.

Additional Respite Care Tips for Further Exploration

Try reaching out to other disease-related organizations (e.g., the Alzheimer’s Association, American Cancer Society, Easter Seals) to ask about grants or programs that give free or reduced-cost respite care. Check also with adult day care centers and faith-based organizations. Many have ways to provide or support respite care. Again, your Area Agency on Aging might know about these resources and be able to help you connect with them.

Programs also exist outside of the usual caregiving settings. The Family Caregiver Alliance based in San Francisco offers Bay Area residents a Camp for Caring. In this successful 20-year-old program, care recipients are cared for in a “camp” setting with health care professionals while family caregivers can stay at home and take a break.

Employers, Friends, Family

Your Workplace — A 2016 report from the Society for Human Resource Management showed both good and bad trends for working caregivers. On the positive side, 75 percent of employers with 50 or more employees provide full (unpaid) family and medical leave coverage under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), up to 12 weeks of leave. Some states, such as California, have paid leave under the FMLA. The report also found that the number of employers offering access to respite care has doubled since 2005. Still, only six percent of all employers include this respite care benefit in their employee assistance programs. Check with your employer to learn which benefits are available to you as a caregiver.

Online Hubs for Care Coordination — Several online communities have been created to ease the task that falls to caregivers when friends and family want to help out — specifically helping with coordination. Most of these sites offer an online calendar where the caregiver can list tasks for which he or she would like help: grocery shopping, picking kids up from school, sitting with the care recipient so the caregiver can take a jog or a yoga class. Using these sites requires being willing to ask for help and inviting your friends and family into your private online community so they can see what you need and volunteer to do it. Two of the largest of these sites are Lotsa Helping Hands, which supports more than 100,000 caregiver online communities, and CaringBridge.

Caregiver Co-ops — These co-ops let caregivers bank “social capital” in the form of volunteer hours. Individual co-ops decide how their banking system will work, but in general the principle is that a caregiver who gives volunteer hours to help another caregiver can ask for equivalent hours of help from co-op members later on. Ask around at caregiver support groups to see if there’s a caregiver co-op in your community. Or consider starting a co-op with other caregivers you know.


© Twin Cities Public Television - 2017. All rights reserved.



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The 5 Exercises You Should Do Every Day

Credit: Thinkstock

Improve your range of motion and balance in less than 10 minutes

By Rashelle Brown for Next Avenue

Balance and mobility training can benefit us at any age, but it becomes more important as you reach and pass the age of 50.

Maintaining joint range of motion allows you to move naturally and helps to combat the postural problems that cause neck, back, shoulder and hip pain.

Far from only preventing stumbles and falls, balance training is extremely important for everyone because it makes us better at every physical thing we do. Having a keen sense of proprioception (the sense of where your body is in space) makes all movement more efficient. When combined with fluid joints that allow for a full range of motion, this puts you at your functional best.

Here’s a short sequence of five exercises you can do every day to improve and maintain your balance and mobility. Done in a slow, controlled fashion, you can finish the whole workout in under 10 minutes:


Balance Stands

With balance training, the goal is not only to improve proprioception, but also to improve your body’s reaction mechanics so you can quickly move to re-establish center of mass and recover to a normal body posture.

As I tell my clients, balance training is most effective when you are almost falling, so it’s important to challenge yourself every time you do this exercise. Once you’ve mastered a simpler version of the Balance Stand, move on to a more complex version.

At its most basic level, this exercise simply requires you to stand on one foot for 30 seconds. For some, this will be easy the first time, while others may need to stand close to a wall or in a door jamb to put out their hand to re-establish balance every few seconds.

Once you can balance on each foot on a stable surface for 30 seconds, it’s time to make it harder. Try looking up at the ceiling while you balance. Once you’ve mastered that, move to a less stable surface, such as a thick rug, a bath towel folded in quarters, a foam balance pad, an inflatable balance pod or a rigid wobble board.


Windmills

This exercise works wonders for the hips and spine. The movement should be slow and small at first, progressing to a slightly deeper twist and bend with each successive repetition. Start by standing with your feet in a wide-legged stance and extend your arms straight out to the sides, in a rendition of da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man.Take in a deep breath and engage your core muscles. Exhale as you slowly hinge forward at the hips and slightly twist, bringing your right hand down and across your body toward your left knee. Rather than moving at the shoulder joint, aim to make all of the motion happen in your hips and trunk.

Also, be sure you are bending forward at the hips and not from the lower back. You may not come anywhere close to touching your knee, and that’s fine. Listen to your body and stop when you feel any tension in the backs of your legs, your hips or your back.

Return to the starting position and repeat on the left side. Do a total of 20 slow repetitions, 10 on each side, alternating as you go.


Jumping Jack Arms

This exercise loosens up the shoulders, stretches the spine and works out all those kinks we get from sitting with less than optimal posture. Stand with your feet in a wide-legged stance, arms down by your sides. Engage your core, making your spine long, and slowly raise your arms out to the sides and as far overhead as you can, in what is essentially the arms-only movement of a jumping jack.

Don’t let your arms travel out in front of your body — imagine your body stuck between two large panes of glass, not allowing your arms to move outside of that space. If you can’t reach all the way up overhead by staying inside the imaginary panes, just stop where your lateral motion ends and return to the start position. Do 30 repetitions.

Pendulum Swings

This exercise loosens up the entire hip socket and stretches nearly all of the leg muscles. Stand in an open doorway with about five feet of clear space on either side of the door. Hold the door jamb with your right hand and face forward, as though you are walking through the door. Lean onto your left foot, engage your core and slowly start swinging your right foot forward and behind you several inches.

As you begin to loosen up, make the swinging more exaggerated, but still keep the movement relatively slow and controlled. Do 20 to 30 swings with the right leg, then switch sides.

After finishing the forward/backward swings with both legs, turn sideways so you are facing the door jamb. Hold the jamb with both hands for stability and step back so you’re holding the jamb with fairly straight arms. Lean onto your left foot and slowly swing your right leg from side to side in front of the left leg, mimicking the motion of the pendulum in a clock.

Be sure to start with very small movements and increase the range only when the motion feels free and easy. Try not to swivel at the hips by rotating your spine, but keep the movement isolated within each hip socket. Do 20 to 30 swings with the right leg, then repeat on the left side.


Lunge Walk to High-Knees

This complex exercise combines balance with mobility, giving your legs and core a real workout! You’ll need a clear walkway, such as a long hallway or open space outside.

Starting with your hands on your hips, take a long, lunging step forward with your right foot. Keep your left knee straight, so you feel a mild stretch at the front of your left hip as you stride forward. Transfer your body weight onto your right foot and prepare for a balance challenge as you bring your left foot forward and drive your knee up high into the air, as though you are stepping up and over a small obstacle.

Continue the motion of your left leg forward and go right into a lunge, this time keeping your right leg straight behind you. Transfer your body weight onto your left leg and bring the right leg forward and up into a high-knee step.

Continue in this fashion until you have done a total of 30 or 40 steps — about 15 to 20 with each leg, alternating as you go. If your balance isn’t up to the challenge of this exercise yet, try doing it in a hallway with one hand on the wall to steady yourself as you go.

 © Twin Cities Public Television - 2017. All rights reserved.

 

Learning to Swim at 80

Credit: Getty Images

Tackling a lifelong to-do can be really enjoyable

By Louise Jackson for Next Avenue

Every Thursday night, I drive to the gym, wriggle into a swimsuit that does nothing to hide my bulging belly or my wrinkled, sagging underarms, put on swim goggles that make me look a bit like someone from outer space, grab my cane to help keep my balance while walking from the dressing room into the pool area and slowly ease down the steps into water smelling of chlorine.

I’m 80 years old and taking a swim class for the first time in my life.

How Do You Go Eight Decades Without Learning to Swim?

You’d think, given the description of my general appearance in one of today’s swimsuits, I’d be embarrassed to be seen at the pool. And I did think about that beforehand, but I looked around the women’s dressing room one day and realized I was in good company. People’s bodies come in all sizes and shapes and using my appearance as an excuse for opting out of an activity I really wanted to try seemed self-defeating. So, in spite of my misgivings, I paid the class fee.

If you grew up near a lake or a town with a swimming pool, or your parents swam, it may surprise you to learn I’ve never taken swimming lessons. But I grew up on a small ranch in Central Texas during an extreme, extended drought and all the swimming holes became wading pools.

Further, the cause of polio was yet unknown. We looked with fear at Life magazine photos showing long rows of children in iron lungs, unable to breathe on their own. The media warned parents about exposing their children to large groups in strange situations. Driving 20 miles each way, just so a child could learn to swim, was never even considered.

Better Late Than Never

After I became an adult, I watched with envy as others swam. I eventually taught myself to float and even to swim, after a fashion, but always wanted to do more, to be better. Finally, when my gym decided to offer adult swim lessons, I reminded myself of the old adage, “Better late than never,” and have just completed half the eight-week course.

To my surprise, even though I’m the oldest person in the class, I haven’t felt the least bit awkward and I’m doing pretty well in spite of some breathlessness due to A-fib. Everyone else has to struggle, too. We’re there because we want to learn to swim or swim more skillfully. It’s a new and demanding experience for each of us.

I’ve made friends with all sorts of people — young men who grew up in deserts, moms who want to swim with their children and a few younger seniors who, like me, hope to stay healthy as long as possible. One young woman even told me, “I want to be like you when I grow up!” (I think several bulges may have shrunk a bit on hearing those words!)

Feeling Sore — But It’s Worth It

One caveat if you’re thinking of following my lead: You may feel stiff and sore after the first several classes. That could be true even if, like me, you’re no stranger to gentle exercising like walking or Tai chi. Swimming demands the use of muscles in totally different ways.

Still, take heart. The aches don’t last and each session feels less demanding, as you build endurance.

For me, the water is no longer an awkward environment. My balance, slightly impaired by a small stroke, isn’t a problem in the pool. I look forward to learning new skills and getting better at the ones I’ve already learned.

Last week, we began the breast stroke. It used my leg muscles in different ways than the freestyle, and I’m stiff again. But that’s OK. It feels good to think I’m getting stronger and more supple with each new activity.

I figure, if you’re lucky, you get older. But aging doesn’t mean you should stop learning and staying in shape. Swimming is fun! I’ve already signed up for another eight lessons, beginning in the new year. It’s my Christmas present to myself.



© Twin Cities Public Television - 2016. All rights reserved.



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5 Tips for Older Adults Navigating the Holiday Blues

Grief can get in the way, but don’t feel like you have to fake it

Credit: Thinkstock

By Emily Gurnon for Next Avenue

In the midst of frenetic advertising, pressure to shop for gifts and the ubiquitous seasonal music, the holidays can be an especially hard time if you’re depressed or missing a lost loved one.

The contrast between the “ideal” of the holiday and how we feel inside can be enormous, making the bad or painful feelings all the more pronounced.

“We feel guilty at this time of year if we personally cannot live up to the standard to be ever-cheerful and happy and joyful,” said Dr. Arthur Hayward, national clinical lead in elder care at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif.

Expectations for merriment and joy are high, Hayward said, as evidenced in holiday greeting cards.

“The wishes are not, ‘Have a pretty good Christmas’ or ‘Have an OK New Year,’ but ‘Have the best Christmas ever’ and ‘a very prosperous New Year,’” he said.

Different for Older Adults

For those who are still active, have children at home or have not yet retired, the holiday season can be a whirlwind of activity that feels draining.

Challenging in a different way may be the loneliness of older adults as friends die and family members move away. In a troubling new survey, a quarter of those 65 and older in England said they were not looking forward to Christmas this year, and many of those said it was because “the festive season brings back too many memories of loved ones who have passed away,” according to a poll for the British nonprofit Age UK released earlier this month.

Two-thirds of the 1,793 older adults surveyed reported that loneliness is exacerbated by the holiday season.

Recognizing that many feel a heavier burden of grief this time of year, some churches hold “Blue Christmas” or similar services. December is also the month in which Compassionate Friends, a group for people who have lost a child, holds candlelight ceremonies worldwide.

The Blues or Depression?

The shorter days during winter can contribute to Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. This malady is not just “the blues,” but a type of major depression, according to the Mayo Clinic. People who are depressed may feel sad, hopeless or worthless; lose interest in things they used to enjoy; sleep too much or too little; have trouble concentrating; have little energy; notice changes in their appetite or weight or have thoughts of dying or suicide, the Mayo Clinic says.

If you feel that you or a loved one are suffering from depression, it’s important to seek treatment, Hayward said.

As difficult as the holidays can be, Hayward offered some advice for coping:

Tips for Getting Through the Season 

• Get plenty of rest. When you take care of your body, you will feel better. 
• Try to keep your expectations of the holiday modest. That may help prevent feelings of disappointment or of being let down. 
• Know that it is OK to feel sad or lonely. You don’t have to try to fake it to live up to the expectations of others. 
• Spend time with friends and other people you enjoy. Do things you want to do, not just the things you have to do. 
• It’s fine to say no sometimes. Wearing yourself out with too many activities will only make you feel worse. 

Tips for Family or Friends

• Ask your depressed loved one to do things with you, such as go for a walk or to a movie. If he or she says no, that’s OK. But do ask again in the future. 
• Ask how you can help in the person’s day-to-day life. You might do some housework, lawn care or errands. 
• Get your loved one to talk about happy memories. This may help him or her feel more a part of the celebration. 
• Listen when the person wants to talk. Don’t try to talk him or her out of sad feelings, but acknowledge them. 

© Twin Cities Public Television - 2016. All rights reserved.



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Every Day Should Be Falls Prevention Awareness Day

Falls are the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries for older Americans. Falls threaten senior safety, independence, and generates enormous economic and personal costs. One in three seniors over the age of 65 will fall each year.

Front Porch Center for Innovation and Wellbeing and the Los Angeles Falls Prevention coalition remind you that through practical lifestyle adjustments, evidence-based fall prevention programs, and community partnerships, the chances of falls among seniors can be reduced. Here are some lifestyle tips and steps you can do to reduce your chances of falling:

Villa Gardens residents practice Tai Chi 

1. Exercise – Exercising regularly helps strengthen your muscle and improves your balance and gait. Tai Chi, for examples, is an effective exercise and studies have shown Tai Chi helps reduce falls in seniors by up to 45%.

2. Review your medication – Know the names of your medication and its doses. Ask yourself if the medication you are currently taking makes you dizzy or sleepy and if so, please consult with your doctor.

3. Get an eye exam - Have your eyes check at least once per year and update your lenses when needed.

4. Identify potential safety hazards around your home – “Red flags” around your house includes poorly lit stairways and walk ways, loose throw rugs, and electric wires in walking areas can serve as a trip hazard.

5. Make home modifications – When you do identify safety hazards in your home, make modifications such as adding grab rails or re-arranging furniture to make for wider walking spaces.

Are you at risk for falls? Take the 30-second Chair Rise to find out!

Older adults do not always report a fall or if they are losing their balance. Failure to do this increases the likelihood they may fall again. Thinking that it will not happen [again] is not the answer. If you are experiencing dizziness, difficulty with your balance or have had a fall prior - please report this to your physician. 

California has the largest number of seniors in the United States with more than 7.5 million individuals over 60 years of age. In Los Angeles County alone there are more than 1.1 million older adults over 60 years old.

Upcoming events:

Front Porch Center for Innovation and Wellbeing in collaboration with the Los Angeles Falls Prevention Coalition will host a Fall Prevention Series presenting on various topics via video conferencing. Health education video conferencing has been a longstanding program for the under-served seniors in Los Angeles and beyond through the Model e-Health Community for Aging (MeHCA) project. Through this the partnership, we have invited experts in their field to present the following topics pertaining to Fall Prevention:

- Medication Management presented by Bradley Williams, PharmD, CGP from University of Southern California, School of Pharmacy

- Safe Home Tips presented by Anat Louis, Psy.D. from Los Angeles Department of Aging

- Fall Risk Self-Assessment by Celeste Del Valle, MPH at Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and Los Angeles Fall Prevention Coalition

Interested in learning more information about Fall Prevention Series or about MeHCA? Please reach out Julie Santos, Project Specialist at JSANTOS@frontporch.net.

Interested in learning more about the Falls Prevention Coalition? Check out the Los Angeles Falls Prevention website. This resource will help seniors and their family identify and locate programs. For any questions, please reach out to Gretchen Swanson, DPT, MPH, Member of the Steering Committee, at info@lafallsprevention.org.