April 2017
Vol. 44, No. 3
Formerly Senior Focus
Published by The Daily Herald and Senior Services of Snohomish County
Senior Services to launch new brand Page 2
A house filled with pets — and love Page 7
Tips for boosting your recall ability Page 10
Program stimulates seniors with memory issues
www.homage.org
Page 12
Walker, 90, keeps on truckin’ Page 13
Columns
PUBLISHED BY THE DAILY HERALD AND HOMAGE SENIOR SERVICES
anticipated. Page 2
Mental health care for senior citizens needs to be transformed. Page 3
Library’s restored murals have survived the ravages of time. Page 4
Help older parents resist onslaught of mail fraud and phone scams. Page 6
Find family-friendly ways to use online services like Facebook. Page 11
You can volunteer to be trained as a senior peer counselor. Page 12
Columns Washington Watch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Savvy Senior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Tech Talk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Homge is a publication of HOMAGE SERVICES OF SNOHOMISH COUNTY 11627 Airport Rd., Suite B Everett, WA 98204-8714
NON PROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID SOUND PUBLISHING 98204
Learn about programs and services available to seniors by visiting www. homage.org.
Learn about programs and services available to seniors by visiting www .sssc .org .
By Caitlin Tompkins
Herald Writer
Pam Timm is standing door with a cart of brown at his front grocery bags. “She’s my favorite lady,” Mike Kerasotes, 67, said. Timm, 66, delivers meals to him each week. She has been a volunteer with Meals on Wheels for six months. During that time, Kerasotes has battled cancer. “When you get $80 in food stamps, it doesn’t go very far. Without you, I wouldn’t have made it through radiation,” he said to Timm. Last year, Meals on Wheels volunteers
and staff served more than ple throughout the county 1,000 peoof 152,000 meals. Senior — a total Snohomish County has Services of managed the local chapter of Meals on 42 years. Each of the meals Wheels for is approved by a nutritionist. Most are and have helped diabeticslow sodium blood sugar under control, keep their said Martha Peppones, director of the nutrition program.
Broadway Plaza.
“That’s 60 too many,” Peppones said. “Those are people who still need The program may be facing meals.” tial financial cuts if PresidentsubstanDonald Trump’s proposed budget approved. Nearly half of for 2018 is the program’s funding comes from the ernment through the Olderfederal govAmericans Act and Community Development Block Grants. The grants are removed under the budget slated to be plan. That would affect 150 meal recipients in Snohomish County, Peppones said. “Fortunately, it’s only a proposal,” she
Program helps seniors cope with depression Since the program started, been a growing demand. there has Staff were able to bring the waiting list about 300 to 60 people last down from year.
Adaptation helps couple battle
Music wellness facilitator Noah Plotkin leads a drumming and singing session with Michael Folio as Cheryl Levin-Folio looks on.
(Mark Ukena, Chicago Tribune) NON PROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID SOUND PUBLISHING 98204
cost-of-living adjustment
for Lorna Jenkinson at
| VOL. 44 NO.7 | AUGUST 2017
The Focus is a publication of SENIOR SERVICES OF SNOHOMISH COUNTY 11627 Airport Rd ., Suite B Everett, WA 98204-8714
Bump in Social Security
Formerly Senior Services of Snohomish County
Savvy Senior . . . . . . . . . . 3 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Washington Watch . . . . . 6 Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Tech Talk . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Meals on Wheels volunteer Pam Timm places food (Dan Bates / The Herald) in the refrigerator and freezer
Meals on Wheels’ future uncertain under president’s propos ed budget
CONTINUED ON PAGE 15
early-onset Alzheimer’s
By Karen Berkowitz
Chicago Tribune
HIGHLAND PARK, Illinois Levin-Folio can’t anticipate — Cheryl milestone of memory loss every new as she and her husband, Michael Folio, navigate his Alzheimer’s disease. Sometimes quick thinking comes in handy, as it did when Michael forgot one day to take off his clothes before stepping into the shower. Rather than correct her husband, Cheryl joined him in the shower with her clothes on
for a laugh. “I think the next time we our clothes off,” she gently should take told him. “I made light of it,” she said. “I never correct him. That’s not fair to In the five years since Michael.” Michael Folio was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s at age 56, the Park couple has adapted Highland routine many times over. their daily They’d been together for years, but married less than four months, when CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
Music therapy enables stro to regain some languag ke patients e through song
By Rashod Ollison years, who sits within arm’s The Virginian-Pilot reach of him, nodding. They’re all in a small NORFOLK, Virginia — When the Johnny Cash room inside Fort Norfolk melody frustrates James Medical Center — RodriRodriguez, he chuckles, guez in his wheelchair and shakes his head and says, Bowdish on a low stool sandwiche d between an “I don’t know.” Tracy Bowdish gen- imposing keyboard and a tly pushes him, taking computer desk. Bowdish is his hand into hers as she a music therapist with Sentara’s Music and Medicine leans closer and sings in bell-clear perfect pitch lyr- Center. In a promotional ics from “I Walk the Line. clip for the program, she ” The goal is to get Rodri- mentions that her blindguez to find the words, still ness helps her to engage patients, to “see who they a difficult task since Music therapist Tracy J. his Bowdish plays the guitar stroke in summer 2011. are beyond the stroke.” As Bowdish holds Rodri- leads James “Jim Bob” Rodriquez in singing songsand But his progress has been during their session “remarkable,” says San- guez’s hand, singing lyrics in Norfolk, Virginia. at Sentara Neurology Specialists Rodriquez suffered a stroke dra, Rodriguez’s wife of 47 CONTINUED ON PAGE 16 2011 and Bowdish is helping him regain some in speech through music. (Bill Tiernan / The Virginian-Pilot)
By Megan Brown Special to The Herald For some seniors, the Golden Years aren’t always sunny. Health issues, social isolation and decreased independence can trigger depression. Homage Senior Services offers a program to help identify and treat symptoms of depression. It offers mental health resources and short-term one-on-one, in-home counseling sessions. The program, funded by Snohomish County and the federal government, is free for Snohomish County residents 60 and older who live in their own home or in an assisted living community. A loss of good health or friendships might make losing happiness seem inevitable. Richard Robinson, director of wellness and mental health at Homage Senior Services, challenges people to rethink that assumption. “The refrain that we always use is, ‘Depression is not a normal part of aging.’ There is this belief in this community that as we age and our health declines and we have losses, we expect to not be as happy as we used to be. A large part of our goal is combatting that myth.” Olivia Bowker, a mental health specialist with Homage, is the program’s intake coordinator. “I try to get to know the client and their story,” she said. She’s contacted by clients as well as friends and family members who might be concerned about a senior developing depression. Bowker, who has worked with clients of almost every age range, says that several factors make seniors
Christine Vervitsiotis, one of the lead counselors, at Homage Senior Services in Lynnwood. She facilitates the counseling sessions and helps senior clients develop strategies for mental health treatment. (Andy Bronson / The Herald) more vulnerable to depression. “There’s a lot more going on and potentially working against them,” she said. This age group often has different barriers, health issues or chronic pain making them isolated. “This might foster feelings of depression or anxiety.” Bowler said. “Oftentimes, people are hesitant to receive services,” she said. “It’s not a huge commitment, but it’s a way to get them started talking about their own experiences.” Christine Vervitsiotis is the lead counselor for the program. She facilitates the counseling sessions
and helps clients develop strategies for mental health treatment. An initial appointment involves a home visit, where she has a conversation with the client about their situation and helps them complete a 30-question depression screening. As they answer questions, she looks for indications of depression: a loss of pleasure from or interest in activities that they once enjoyed; feeling down or hopeless. A combination of counseling and medication has been shown to be CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
Memory supplements under fire Research and regulators dispute claims about brain enhancement By Diane C. Lade Sun Sentinel Promoting fixes for fading memories has become big business. Yet consumer advocates and scientists like Dr. Bob Speth say some supplement marketers are making millions by tapping into the deepest fears of seniors and aging baby boomers. They say there is little proof such products can stave off cognitive decline by beefing up brain function, as some of the companies selling them advertise. The latest example Speth and others are pointing to is the supplement Prevagen. Speth, professor of pharmaceutical sciences at Nova Southeastern University College of Pharmacy in Davie, Florida, said he filed a complaint about Prevagen with the Federal Trade Commission in 2016. His concerns are echoed in a lawsuit brought by the FTC and New York State attorney general. The lawsuit accuses Quincy Bioscience Holding Co. Inc. and its affiliates of making false or unsubstantiated statements about Prevagen’s benefits and clinical validation. “We are seeking … to stop them from making allegedly unfounded claims, and (also) money for consumer refunds,” said Michelle Rusk, an attorney in the FTC’s division of advertising practices.
Scientists like Dr. Bob Speth of Nova Southeastern University say some memory supplement marketers are making millions through claims that have little proof. (Bruno Weltmann / Dreamstime / TNS) Wisconsin-based Quincy Bioscience, Prevagen’s marketer and manufacturer, says the product contains a synthesized version of a protein found in jellyfish, called apoaequorin, that improves memory. Prevagen, carried by most drug store chains and other major retailers, is widely promoted through television commercials featuring scenes of white-coated researchers in a laboratory and happy seniors reading to their grandkids. Speth calls Prevagen “one of the most fallacious products I have seen come on the market,” and one that, like some other brain health
supplements, uses questionable science in promotions aimed at desperate seniors facing brain disorders like Alzheimer’s or other serious medical issues. “They’re thinking, ‘This guy on television says it will help me. And it probably won’t hurt me.’ A lot of people take these supplements because they can’t afford doctors or don’t trust them,” said Speth, a neuropharmacologist who lectures nationwide on the dangers of dietary supplements. In a written statement, Quincy CONTINUED ON PAGE 7