New Horizons May 2015

A publication of the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging

May 2015 VOL. 40 • NO. 5

ENOA 4223 Center Street Omaha, NE 68105-2431 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID OMAHA NE PERMIT NO. 389

New Horizons

Alive and

singing Born in Omaha in 1940, lyricist and composer Paul Williams has won an Oscar Award, three Grammy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards for his music. Despite the successful career, Williams battled alcohol and substance abuse in the 1970s and ’80s. His career and recovery are featured in the documentary, Paul Williams Still Alive. Leo Adam Biga’s profile of Williams begins on page 10.

Magic man The Omaha Magical Society recently gave 92-year-old Omaha magician Walt Graham its 2015 Top Hat Award.

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Colorful fun More than 2,100 individuals participated in the Omaha Color Vibe 5k last month.

Part of the proceeds were donated to ENOA. Page 20 Photo by Mark Kresl/Midwest Geriatrics

AARP offering driving course AARP is offering a new four-hour, research-based Smart Driver Course for older adults.

By completing the course, participants will learn research-based driving safety strategies that can reduce the likelihood of having an accident; understand the links between the driver, the vehicle, and the road environment, and how this awareness encourages safer driving; learn how aging, medications, alcohol, and health-related issues affect driving ability and ways to allow for these changes; increase confidence; know how to share the road safely with other drivers, and learn the newest safety and advance features in vehicles.

The fee is $15 for AARP members and $20 for nonAARP members.

No tests or examinations are involved, course completion certificates are provided, and auto insurance discounts may apply. Here’s this month’s schedule: Saturday, May 9 Noon to 4 p.m.

AARP Information Center 1941 S 42nd St. To register, call 402-398-9568

Friday, May 15 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Metro Community College 9110 Giles Rd. Class #: AUAV 004N-70 To register, call 402-457-5231

Wednesday, May 13 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Midlands Hospital 11111 S. 84th St. To register, call 800-253-4368

Wednesday, May 20 Noon to 4 p.m.

Bloomfield Forum 9804 Nicholas St. To register, call 402-390-9111

We want to hear from

you!

• Do you have questions about the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging, its programs or services?

• Do you have a comment about the agency and how it serves older adults in Douglas, Sarpy, Dodge, Cass, and Washington counties?

• Maybe you have a story idea for the New Horizons?

Send your questions,comments, story ideas, etc. to

DHHS.ENOA@nebraska.gov We appreciate your interest in ENOA and the New Horizons.

Obesity taxes nation’s healthcare costs

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eing severely overweight is taxing on almost every level, says Dr. Eleazar Kadile, who specializes in treating patients with obesity and associated chronic disease.

“Physically, emotionally, mentally, and even spiritually, being obese is an everpresent condition to the experience my clients face every day,” says Dr. Kadile, director of the Center for Integrative Medicine and author of Stop Dying Fat. “Obesity is a vicious cycle that usually starts with bad eating habits during childhood. Childhood obesity has quadrupled in recent decades,” Kadile said.

“I don’t think enough of us appreciate how established bad habits are before most obese people reach adulthood.”

Overweight or obese people often eat for comfort when they’re depressed or as a reward when things are going well much like an alcoholic, Kadile said.

Like substance abusers, obese people pay a significant price.

• Bigger is costlier. Many people are emotional eaters. When you eat for emotional satisfaction rather than physical satiation, you eat more, which increases the dollars spent. Obese people often have to buy clothes specially tailored for their size, which adds costs. The biggest cost, however, is paying for the healthcare needed due to bad health. Obesity has severely taxed our country’s healthcare

costs.

• What’s your self-esteem worth?

Being a large individual often proves challenging in public. Obesity can keep you from social engagements and make you feel self-conscious while out and about. This can lead to depression and lack of activity, fueling the vicious cycle of the obese lifestyle.

• Time is arguably the most important metric. What do we really have in life?

Money, work, love, relationships, and material goods. These are all necessary things. But they’re all for not if your health doesn’t permit you to live long enough to enjoy them.

• Opportunities, quality of life, and happiness are compromised. You can be the most qualified professional at work, but obesity can cost you a raise. You may be a funny, intelligent, and attractive person, but being too big might keep you from finding love. Simply having 100 or 200 pounds of extra fat is a burden obese people cannot escape throughout their waking existence.

“As a society, we should be more compassionate toward obese individuals – they have it hard enough without our critical judgment,” Dr. Kadile says.

“If you’re obese, you owe it to yourself and your loved ones to save on the associated tangible and intangible costs.

If you don’t take action today, it can cost you many days from your future you’d otherwise have.”

Camelot Friendship Center

211 phone network

You’re invited to visit the Camelot Friendship Center inside the Camelot Community Center, 9270 Cady Ave., for the following: • May 1: May Day Tea, A Day in the Life of a Victorian Lady @ 12:15 p.m.

• May 5, 12, & 19: Tai Chi class @ 10:15 a.m.

• May 5, 8, 12, 15, 19, 22, 26, & 29: Tap class @ 1:30 p.m.

• May 6: Music by Kim Eames.

• May 8 & 22: Movie Day @ 12:15 p.m.

• May 11: Trip to the zoo.

• May 13: Birthday bash and riverboat field trip.

• May 14: Book Club @ 10:15 a.m.

• May 18: Chair volleyball @ 10:15 a.m.

• May 28: Garden Club @ 10:15 a.m.

The center will be closed on May 25 for Memorial Day. Other activities include Bingo, pinochle, card games, other games, crafts, candy making, and scrapbooking.

The Camelot Friendship Center is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Lunch is served at 11:30 a.m. A $3.50 donation is suggested for the meal. Reservations are due by noon the business day prior to the lunch you wish to enjoy.

For reservations or more information, please call Amy at 402-444-3091.

The 211 telephone network has been established in parts of Nebraska to give consumers a single source for information about community and human services.

By dialing 211, consumers can access information 24 hours a day, seven days a Sarpy County week about: Museum • Human needs resources like food banks, shelters, rent and utility assistance, etc.

• Physical and mental health resources.

• Employment support.

• Support for older Americans and persons with a disability.

• Support for children and families.

• Volunteer opportunities and donations.

Sarpy County Museum You’re invited to two special events in May. On Friday, May 8, Bellevue University in conjunction with the Sarpy County Museum is hosting a free 70th anniversary celebration of VE Day. The 9 to 11:30 a.m. event will be held in the Bellevue University library.

The festivities will feature a tribute to WWII veterans.

Ben Justman will present World War II and Sarpy County and sign copies of his book.

For more information, please call 402-292-1880.

Then on Sunday, May 31 at 2 p.m. the annual Great Sarpy County Quilt Show will kick off. Yvonne Hollenbeck’s Patchwork of the Prairie will feature approximately 30 quilts made by members of the same family over a 135year period.

The Sarpy County Quilt Show runs through Aug. 15.

For more information, please call 402-292-1880.

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May 2015

Walkathon to benefit ENOA senior centers

By Yvette Steffen

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ach May, our nation focuses on how older Americans are taking charge of their health, getting engaged with their communities, and making a positive impact in the lives of others.

Fifty years ago, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Older Americans Act into law. The OAA provided a nationwide aging services network and funding sources that help older Americans live with dignity in the communities of their choice for as long as possible.

These services, which are often provided by agencies like the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging, include home-delivered meals, congregate meals, caregiver support, community-based assistance, public information, preventive health services, personal care, transportation, and ombudsman services.

Each May, the theme for the Older Americans Act Month celebration changes. In 2015, the theme is Get Into the Act. By promoting and engaging in activity, wellness, and inclusivity, it’s hoped more older Americans will get into the act and take control of their lives allowing them

to become more empowered.

In 2015, the nation is celebrating the OAA’s 50th anniversary. To commemorate this milestone, ENOA’s Nutrition Division is hosting its first annual fundraising effort titled, The Step Out for Seniors Walkathon.

The event is scheduled for Saturday, May 16 at 10 a.m. at historic Benson Park, 72nd Street and Military Avenue.

The money raised will go to ENOA’s 28 senior centers to help them update their programming and services.

The Step Out for Seniors Walkathon is open to people of all ages and will include a Lifestyle Exposition, fishing, exercise demonstrations, and a friendly chair volleyball minitournament.

The early bird registration fee through May 8 is $15 per entry. The cost to register May 9 to 15 is $20. The registration rate at the event on May 16 will be $25. Children under age 12 can register for $15 no matter when they sign up for the walkathon.

Registration forms are available at any ENOA senior center or by visiting stepoutforseniors.weebly.com.

For more information, please call 402-4446513.

(Steffen is the program assistant in ENOA’s Nutrition Division.)

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Are you using the proper sunscreen?

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reater awareness about what’s in everyday products and increased interest in healthy living means there’s never been a better time to re-evaluate which sunscreens you use.

The ingredients in some common chemical-based sunscreens are known to cause allergic reactions for some people and have been linked to reproductive and behavioral problems in animal studies.

Luckily for the sunsafe and health conscious among us, there are lots of widely available all-natural, mineral-based sunscreen formulations that won’t cause any health problems.

The most common non-chemical sunscreen ingredients are zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, which offer all-natural broad-spectrum UVA/ UVB protection that won’t sting your eyes or cause a reaction in people with rosacea or dermatitis like chemical sunscreens can.

Some mineral sunscreen formulations on the market have their downsides, though. Powdered mineral sunscreens can be messy to apply and their transparency can make it hard to tell if you have enough on to protect yourself. Liquid versions can feel thick and greasy compared to

ADDRESS CITY/STATE/ZIP

chemical varieties, and may also leave a white cast on skin and streaks on clothing or bathing suits.

To eliminate the white cast issue, tinted moisturizers and cosmetic foundations with mineral sunscreens are available in a wide variety of shades. To find the sunscreen that’s best for you, check out free online databases like the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) Guide to Sunscreens or Paula’s Choice Expert Advice on Sun Care.

“Many sunscreens offer inadequate protection from the sun and can contain toxic ingredients to boot,” says Sonya Lunder, senior research analyst at EWG. “The EWG Guide to Sunscreens offers users much-needed, well-sourced information so consumers can make the right choices to protect themselves and their families.”

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s soon as this summer, Americans may have access to new active sunscreen ingredients that could offer benefits like stronger UVA protection and longer lasting, more lightweight applications.

Last November, President Obama signed the Sunscreen Innovation Act into law, which will push the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to make quicker decisions on new sunscreen ingredients awaiting their approval. Eight sunscreen ingredient applications have been pending FDA approval since 2002, though many of these ingredients are already used in sunscreens in Europe and elsewhere.

“Many promising sunscreen ingredients have long been used in sunscreen products that are sold in other parts of the world, including the European Union and Canada,” says Scott Faber, EWG senior vice president.

“It is about time Americans have access to the same products others use to protect themselves from the dangers of sun exposure.”

(EarthTalk®, produced by Doug Moss & Roddy Scheer, is a registered trademark of Earth Action Network Inc.)

May 2015

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New Horizons New Horizons is the official publication of the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging. The paper is distributed free to people over age 60 in Douglas, Sarpy, Dodge, Washington, and Cass counties. Those living outside the 5-county region may subscribe for $5 annually.

Address all correspondence to: Jeff Reinhardt, Editor, 4223 Center Street, Omaha, NE 68105-2431.

Phone 402-444-6654. FAX 402-444-3076.

E-mail: jeff.reinhardt@nebraska.gov Advertisements appearing in New Horizons do not imply endorsement of the advertiser by the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging. However, complaints about advertisers will be reviewed and, if warranted, their advertising discontinued. Display and insert advertising rates available on request. Open rates are commissionable, with discounts for extended runs. Circulation is 20,000 through direct mail and freehand distribution.

Editor....................................................Jeff Reinhardt Ad Mgr................Mitch Laudenback, 402-444-4148 Contributing Writers......Nick Schinker, Leo Biga, & Lois Friedman ENOA Board of Governors: Mary Ann Borgeson, Douglas County, chairperson; Jim Peterson, Cass County, vice-chairperson; Gary Osborn, Dodge County secretary; Brenda Carlisle, Sarpy County; & Lisa Kramer, Washington County.

The New Horizons and the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging provide services without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, marital status, disability, or age.

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Nebraska’s academic medical industry has an economic impact of $1.8 billion

Read it & eat

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By Lois Friedman readitandeat@yahoo.com

recent analysis of an Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) 2012 economic impact assessment of U.S. medical schools revealed that among its peers in similarly populated states, the academic medical industry in Nebraska has Make Mom’s Day special this year the largest economic impact on the communities it serves.

A celebration for all the mothers and grandmothers out The news came as little surprise to University of Nebrasthere. This variety of cookbooks is sure to please all the ka Medical Center ChancelMoms in your life. lor Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D. “Sometimes within a comHomemade For Sale munity we don’t always see

By Lisa Kivirist & John Ivanko (New Society, $22.95) ourselves from a national perA guidebook to conceive and launch your own homespective,” Dr. Gold said. “We made food business in your own kitchen. Navigate the are highly regarded across the laws, develop marketing strategies, and consider the ins and United States and around the outs of this cottage industry. world.”

The total direct economic United States of Bread impact of academic medicine in Nebraska, at $1.8 billion,

By Adrienne Kane (Running Press, $20) ranks ahead of Rhode Island ($1.7 billion), New Hampshire Seventy-five vintage American regional home-baked rec- ($1.5 billion), West Virginia ($1.2 billion), New Mexico ipes collected and given modern tweets. Bread Making 101 ($950 million), Hawaii ($242 million), and Nevada ($200 is followed and organized by eight types of breads. Master million), among states with between 1 million and 3 milrecipes, variations, and detailed instructions. lion in population.

Nebraska’s academic medical economy includes data The Everyday Rice Cooker from both UNMC and Creighton University.

By Diane Phillips (Chronicle, $24.95) Think of your rice cooker as a kitchen assistant. Easy and s a city, the Omaha market outperformed strong fast cooking. A gizmo for making one-pot meals by cookacademic medical industry centers in peer maring with steam. Techniques and guidelines for this versatile kets such as Rochester, N.Y. ($1.7 billion), Little cooker for soups, sides, grains, and more.

Rock, Ark. ($1.2 billion), Tucson, Ariz. ($1.2 billion), Albany, N.Y. ($1.2 billion), and Albuquerque, The Big Book of Sides N.M. ($950 million) -- markets with very similar metro

By Rick Rodgers (Ballantine, $30) populations.

This award-winning cookbook author shares more than Nationally, among peer markets, Omaha ranks second, 450 recipes with well-written instructions for luscious addi- behind only Birmingham, Ala. ($2.9 billion), home of the tions to the main course for cooks of all experience levels.

University of Alabama at Birmingham, a nationally recogFrom acorn squash to ziti; a treasure trove of recipe ideas nized academic medical center. with peak season, purchasing, and storage guide details.

But Omaha is poised to take yet another step, said Paul Umbach, president of Tripp Umbach, the consulting firm Pimento Cheese The Cookbook that conducted the analysis.

By Perre Magness (St. Martin's, $21.99) “Omaha is already a major economic player in the A pimento cheese love story and 50 recipes for the “pate” academic medicine industry, with an exceptionally bright of the South starting with Y’all Come Over For a Bite. future to join the top tier centers,” Umbach said.

Lunch and party menus for “puh-menna” (the preferred Nebraska may count itself fortunate. Many larger metro pronunciation in Dixie). Think Wonder Bread, saltines, and markets such as Las Vegas, Charlotte, N.C., and Austin, this seriously Southern version.

Texas do not have established academic medical centers.

Likewise, two peer states, Idaho and Montana, do not have medical schools.

Buttermilk Pimento Cheese A 2015 study of UNMC and its clinical partner, Nebras(makes 2 cups) ka Medicine from Tripp Umbach, showed the combined organization has a $4.2 billion annual impact on the state’s 1 pound sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated economy.

1 cup whole buttermilk, well shaken and cold (UNMC provided this information.) one 4-ounce jar diced pimentos, rinsed,

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drained and patted dry A few generous grinds of black pepper

Beat the cheese and buttermilk together in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or with an electric hand mixer until fluffy and well combined. Add the drained pimentos and the black pepper and beat, scraping down the bowl as needed, until everything is combined and fluffy. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for a few hours until firm. This is best served cold, right out of the frig, as it is a bit softer than mayonnaise-based versions.

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May 2015

Sen. Deb Fischer’s staff hosting health fair on Friday, June 5

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he office staff of United States Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska is hosting its first annual Senior Fair on Friday, June 5 from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Millard Senior Center at Montclair, 2304 S. 135th Ave. Those in attendance will have an opportunity to meet members of Sen. Fischer’s staff and learn more about medical resources in the community, fraud awareness, fire safety, and Volunteers Assisting Seniors.

For more information, please call Tiffany Settles at 402-200-8816 or Peggy King at 402-441-4600.

Hearing loss group to meet on May 12 The Omaha Area Hearing Loss Association of America, a support group for hard of hearing adults, will next meet on Tuesday, May 12 at Dundee Presbyterian Church, 5312 Underwood Ave. Participants are asked to enter the church on the Happy Hollow Blvd. (east) side.

The 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. meeting will feature social time and a speaker.

The Omaha Area Hearing Loss Association of America meets the second Tuesday of the month from September through December and from March through August.

For more information, please contact Beth Ellsworth at ellsworth.beth@ cox.net or Verla Hamilton at 402-558-6449.

Orchestra auditions are set for May 2, 9 The Intergeneration Orchestra of Omaha, a special project of the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging, will hold auditions for its 31st season of concerts on Saturday, May 2 from 1 to 4 p.m. and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 9.

The IGO consists of musicians under age 25 and over age 50.

Musicians must have an appointment to audition and be prepared to perform any style of music without accompaniment for conductor Chuck Penington.

To arrange for an appointment or to learn where the auditions will be held, please call Kristine Hendrickson at 402-490-4160.

Fremont Friendship Center

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ou’re invited to visit the Fremont Friendship Center, 1730 W. 16th St. (Christensen Field), this month for the following: • May 7: Center’s 25th anniversary celebration.

Coffee and homemade goodies from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Cake and punch will be served from 4 to 6 p.m.

Drawings and a brief program will be offered at both open houses.

• May 21 & May 22: Sixth annual garage sale from 3 to 7 p.m. on May 21 and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on May 22. Non-clothing donations will be accepted at the center the week of May 18. Proceeds will benefit the Fremont Friendship Center’s entertainment and activity fund.

The Fremont Friendship Center is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Lunch is served at 11:30 a.m. A $3.50 donation is suggested for lunch. Reservations must be made by noon the business day prior to the meal you wish to enjoy.

Activities include exercising, Tai Chi, chair volleyball, card games, billiards, speakers, and access to a computer lab.

Transportation to and from the center is available.

For meal reservations and more information, please call Laurie at 402-727-2815.

Shredding day is set for Saturday, May 16 AARP Nebraska and Shred-It will host a free shredding day for individuals (not businesses) in Omaha on Saturday, May 16 at The Center Mall, 42nd and Center streets.

People can help avoid becoming victims of identity theft by shredding sensitive documents with personal information such as cancelled checks, credit card offers, old bank and financial statements, and medical bills.

The drive-through shredding session will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the east end of the top level of The Center Mall’s parking lot.

People should enter the parking lot at 41st & Center streets.

State-of-the-art mobile shredders will be set up on site and unloading assistance will be provided.

For more information, call 402-398-9568.

Alzheimer’s support groups available in Dodge, Douglas, Sarpy counties The Alzheimer’s Association Nebraska Chapter offers several caregiver support groups and specialty support groups each month in Dodge, Douglas, and Sarpy counties. These support groups offer valuable space and educational opportunities for families impacted by Alzheimer’s disease or a related form of dementia to engage and learn. Please call Elizabeth at 402-502-4301 for more information.

DODGE COUNTY • FREMONT Last Wednesday @ 2 p.m.

Nye Square 655 W. 23rd St. Second Tuesday @ 5:30 p.m.

Shalimar Gardens 749 E. 29th St. DOUGLAS COUNTY • BENNINGTON Last Thursday @ 6 p.m.

Ridgewood Active Retirement Community 12301 N. 149th Cr. • ELKHORN Third Monday @ 6 p.m.

Elk Ridge Village Assisted Living 19400 Elk Ridge Dr. • OMAHA Second Thursday @ 10 a.m.

Country House 5030 S. 155th St. Adult day services provided.

Every other Monday @ 7 p.m.

Brighton Gardens 9220 Western Ave. Third Wednesday @ 3 p.m.

Fountain View Senior Living 5710 S 108th St. First & third Monday @ 1:30 p.m.

New Cassel/Franciscan Centre 900 N. 90th St. Adult day services are provided on-site.

• OMAHA Third Tuesday @ 5 p.m.

Immanuel Fontenelle 6809 N 68th Plz. Second Tuesday @ 5:30 p.m.

Heritage Pointe 16811 Burdette St.

Second Wednesday @ 5:30 p.m.

Espirit Whispering Ridge 17555 Emmet St. Third Saturday 10:30 a.m. to noon Younger Onset Support Group Methodist Hospital 8303 Dodge St. REGISTRATION REQUIRED First Thursday @ 6:30 p.m.

Early Stage Support Group Security National Bank 1120 S. 101st St. REGISTRATION REQUIRED

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by Lifeline, call (402) 829-3277 or toll-free at (800) 676-9449.

Free Activation for Mother’s Day Available May 1- May 31 To receive Free Activation you must mention this ad

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Second or third Saturday @ 11 a.m.

Caring for Your Parents Teri @ 402-393-0434 for location • RALSTON Third Monday @ 9:30 a.m.

Ralston Senior Center 7301 Q St. • Suite 100 SARPY COUNTY • BELLEVUE Third Monday @ 7 p.m.

Bellevue Senior Center 109 W. 22nd Ave. First Wednesday @ 1 p.m.

Eastern Nebraska Vets Home 12505 S. 40th St. Fourth Thursday @ 6 p.m.

Hillcrest Health Services 1804 Hillcrest Dr. Second Tuesday @ 5:30 p.m.

Heritage Ridge 1502 Fort Crook Rd. South

Heartland Family Service Senior Center You’re invited to visit the Heartland Family Service Senior Center, – 4318 Fort St. – for the following: • May 4: Walking club after lunch.

• May 8: Mother’s Day brunch @ 10:15. Call 402-5535300 for reservations. Please let us know if you’re staying for lunch.

• May 13: May birthday party. Join us for an ice cream sundae.

• May 19: Crafts Day @ 10:30.

• May 21: Visit the IMAX Theater to see a film on humpback whales. Call 402-553-5300 to sign up.

• May 27: Meeting about No More Empty Pots from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

• May 28: Speaker from the Douglas County Extension Office’s Master Gardener program @ 10:45.

The facility will be closed on May 25 for Memorial Day. The center is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Lunch is normally served at noon. A $3.50 donation is suggested for the meal. Reservations are due by noon the business day prior to the lunch you wish to attend.

Transportation is available within select neighborhoods for 50 cents each way.

Regular activities include Tai Chi classes, a walking club, Bingo, crafts, cards, games, speakers, and musical programs.

For reservations or more information, call 402-553-5300.

May 2015

Fontenelle Tours

Omaha/Council Bluffs

712-366-9596

Quoted prices are per person, double occupancy. For more information about our tours, please call Ward or Kathy Kinney at Fontenelle Tours at the number listed above.

Motorcoach “Hairspray” at the New Theatre. June 28. $141. Come along on a Sunday trip to Kansas City, enjoy a wonderful lunch buffet, and the return engagement of this popular play. Set in the 1960s, it is the story of a “pleasantly plump” mother and her teenage daughter....both full figured and ready to fight for what’s right! The previous production of this play at the New Theatre sold out before it opened.

“Godspell” at the Lofte. July 19. $99. Composed of various musical parables from The Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus Christ recruits a group of followers and teaches them lessons through song and dance. Followed by a delicious dinner at the Main Street Café in Louisville.

Kentucky – Bridles and Blue Grass. August 9 – 15. $1369. Explore Lexington, Bardstown, and Louisville including Claiborne Thoroughbred Farm Tour, Kentucky Horse Park, Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Facility. Breakfast at Churchill Downs watching the thoroughbreds workout, Kentucky Derby Museum, Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory tour, dinner cruise aboard the Spirit of Jefferson, Old Kentucky Chocolates Tour, Bourbon Distillery Tour, The Kentucky Show, Historic Bardstown Tour, Mega Caverns Tour, Prairie Fruit Farm and Creamery, Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch, and two nights at the beautiful Galt House Hotel in downtown Louisville. (Call by June 1.)

Michigan Lakeshores & Resorts. September 19 – 25. $1449. ($1379 before 5/15/15.) Explore Michigan’s east lakeshores and resort towns including the Saugatuck Art and Craft Galleries. Guided sand dune buggy ride, Holland Windmill Island Gardens, dinner cruise on Lake Michigan aboard the Holland Princess, Castle Farms in Charlevoix, Mushroom Houses guided tour, Music House Museum, private tall ship sail in Grand Traverse Bay, Old Mission Peninsula guided tour, Grand Traverse Winery and wine tasting, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, The Cherry Republic—largest cherry store in the world, Silver Beach Carousel & Amusement Park Museum, and two nights (and a full day to relax) at the Marina Grand Resort. (Call by June 15.)

Branson Christmas. November 9 – 12. $729. ($689 before 8/9/15.) Enjoy SIX–The Knudsen Brothers, Dixie Stampede, Shoji Tabuchi, Pierce Arrow, Dublin’s Irish Tenors with the Celtic Ladies, Mickey Gilley, and the Trail of Lights, as well as Landry’s Seafood House. (Call by August 9.)

“Dear Santa” at the Lofte. December 13. $99. ($89 before 9/13/15.) This play is composed of a number of short scenes that range from the hilarious to the touching. Many views of Santa are seen—from the point of view of the child who alphabetizes her Christmas list and sends it out in August as well as that of children at various stages of belief—and disbelief. Followed by another delicious dinner at the Main Street Café in Louisville. (Call by September 13.)

Kansas City Christmas. Mid December. More details on this trip will be available after the New Theatre announces its schedule of shows for the next season.

Laughlin Laughlin in May. May 23 – 27. $289. Includes non-stop, round-trip airfare to Laughlin, Nevada, four nights lodging at the Riverside Resort and Casino on the banks of the Colorado River, and shuttle transportation to and from the airport.

You will also be able to enjoy the “Rock ‘n’ Ribs Festival” and the “International Gift and Craft Show”, both held in Laughlin over this Memorial Day weekend.

In partnership with Collette Vacations Quoted prices are per person, double occupancy, and do not include airfare. More destinations available!

Classic Danube. 11 days from $3349. Features a seven-night Danube River Cruise visiting Wurzburg, Rothenburg, Munich, and Passau in Germany, Wachau Valley, Emmersdorf, and Vienna in Austria, Bratislava in Slovakia, and Budapest in Hungary.

Reflections of Italy. 10 days from $2449. Visit a land rich in history, culture, art, and romance including Rome, the Colosseum, Assisi, Perugia, Siena, Florence, Chianti Winery, Venice, Murano Island, and Milan. Extend your trip in Turin.

Irish Splendor. Eight days from $1699. Return to times gone by as you experience fabulous accommodations, stunning scenery, and sumptuous food visiting Dublin, the Guiness Storehouse, Blarney Castle, Killarney, Dingle Peninsula, Cliffs of Moher, Dromoland Castle, and Tullamore Whiskey Distillery. Extend your trip in Dublin.

Alaska Discovery Land & Cruise. 13 days from $3069. Featuring a seven-night Princess Cruise, you will visit Anchorage, Mt. McKinley, and Denali National Park, ride a luxury domed railcar to Whittier to board the Princess ship, cruise past the Hubbard Glacier, through Glacier Bay, to Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, through the Inside Passage, and into Vancouver. Then fly home from Seattle.

Watch New Horizons and our website www.fontenelletours.com for our trip schedule.

Our mailing address is: 2008 W. Broadway #329, Council Bluffs, IA 51501

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New Horizons

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Page 5

Heartland Family Service, Holy Name Housing collaborate to create NOIC

By Jeff Reinhardt New Horizons Editor

I

t’s amazing what you can buy for $1. Especially if you have some great ideas to improve your community, and the right people, organizations, and businesses believe in and support those ideas.

In 2009, St. Richard parish closed its school, church, and rectory doors in north Omaha due to a steady decline in the number of parishioners.

Initially unable to sell the land and the on-site buildings, the Omaha Archdiocese and Archbishop George Lucas transferred the property to the Holy Name Housing Corporation (HNHC) for $1 in 2010.

Fast forward five years and $29 million later and the North Omaha Intergenerational Human Services Campus (NOIC) is transforming those 9.8 acres of land at 4318 Fort St. into a bustling hub of activity featuring housing, a senior center, a youth facility, a healthcare clinic, a home for women and children, and a new location for the Holy Name Housing Corporation.

The first step in developing the NOIC was constructing 22 energy-efficient, handicap-accessible duplexes for 44 men and women meeting age (55 and older or disabled) and income (less than 60 percent of the median income level for Omaha) guidelines.

“We knew there were a lot of seniors in the neighborhood so we decided to build the Senior Cottages,” said Sister Marilyn Ross, HNHC’s executive director.

The duplexes, which opened in October 2013, filled quickly. There’s also a waiting list with more than 100 names.

“Even though the residents are renting, the Senior Cottages give them a sense of ownership and community, and they’re affordable,” Sister Ross said.

T

he project’s next phase was to determine how to use the former St. Richard School and rectory buildings. HNHC board member Carolyn Anderson was also on the board at Heartland Family Service (HFS). Anderson knew HFS was looking to relocate its senior center and YouthLinks program.

She connected Sister Ross with HFS. For several months, Sister Ross and John Jeanetta, Heartland Family Service’s CEO, worked together to create the NOIC concept and to raise the necessary capital.

Sister Ross said she knew the HNHC-HFS partnership was a perfect marriage from the beginning. “They’re as passionate about what they do as we are about what we do.”

South of the duplexes, the former St. Richard School building – which is on the National Register of Historic Places – now houses the Heartland Family Service Senior Center on the main level and the YouthLinks program upstairs. The senior center relocated from 1941 S. 42nd St. The youth program moved from 815 Dorcas St. YouthLinks is a short-term emergency stabilization program for youngsters ages 10 to 18 who are transitioning from the juvenile justice system back into society and/or who need some help staying out of the legal system.

The Heartland Family Service Senior Center is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Lunch is served at noon. A $3.50 donation is suggested for the meal. Reservations, which are due by noon the business day prior to the lunch the older adult wishes to enjoy, can be made by calling 402553-5300.

Transportation to and from the center in select neighborhoods is available for 50 cents each way.

In addition to a hot meal, men and women age 60 and older have access to a variety of programs

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New Horizons

Between playing Bingo and having lunch, this group of Heartland Family Service Senior Center participants paused to have their picture taken. The center is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call 402-553-5300 for more information. including a walking club, Tai Chi classes, Bingo, card games, a community garden, field trips, speakers on a variety of topics, musical programs sponsored by the Merrymakers, and programs offered by WhyArts?, a project created to assure visual and performing arts experiences are open in Omaha to people of all ages and abilities.

Center Manager Karen Sides is creating opportunities for the older adults to interact with the YouthLinks participants including attendance at the monthly Merrymakers’ performances.

“The kids smile and tap their toes even though it’s old-time music,” Sides said.

“The children see their interaction with the older adults as a time to be mentored,” said Donna Dostal, chief development officer for Heartland Family Service.

Plans for an intergenerational play and painting a colorful mural on site are also underway.

Connie Delaney, who visits the senior center five days a week, enjoys working with youths.

“I like to make friends and teach them about the great outdoors,” she said.

ergy.

“This is exactly what we envisioned would happen,” Dostal said of the impact the NOIC is having in north Omaha.

“The NOIC is a good anchor in a revitalized, stable neighborhood,” Sister Ross said.

Among the donors who made the North Omaha Intergenerational Human Services Campus a reality were Suzanne and Walter Scott, William and Ruth Scott, Mutual of Omaha, the Kiewit Foundation, First National Bank, American National Bank, the Lozier Foundation, and the Sherwood Foundation.

A variety of low-income state and federal tax credits are also being used to finance the project, Dostal said.

For more information on the NOIC, please call 402-552-7480.

I

n June, the Holy Name Housing Corporation will move its offices from 3014 N. 45th St. into the renovated former St. Richard rectory. The Charles Drew Health Center will lease space in the building. The days and hours the clinic is open and the services it offers will be determined after a study is completed.

The final phase of the NOIC will feature Heartland Family Service’s Family Works program which will relocate to the former Park Crest Apartments near 48th and Sahler streets.

Family Works is a residential substance abuse treatment program for women with infants and young children.

T

he early reports from the NOIC are exciting. Sister Ross said the campus is a vibrant community that brings two assets (older adults and children) together and provides housing and services for both age groups.

The cottages are filled, the senior center is bringing in new people on a daily basis, and the air is filled with positive intergenerational en-

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May 2015

Connie Delaney visits the Heartland Senior Center five days a week.

Support group for widows, widowers THEOS, a group for older widows and widowers, meets the second Monday of each month at 6 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church of the Cross, 1517 S. 114th St. The organization offers weekend activities, Wednesday night dinners, and pinochle twice a month.

On May 11, a program on old Omaha restaurants will be featured.

For more information, please call Dorothy at 402399-0759, Mary at 402-3933052, or Joan at 402-3938931.

Blue Barn Theatre The Thornton Wilder classic, Our Town, will be on stage May 7 to June 7 at the Blue Barn Theatre, 614 S. 11th St. Winner of the 1938 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Our Town reminds people how rich their lives are if they just stop and listen.

Show times are Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Sundays May 17, May 31, and June 7.

Tickets are $30 or $25 for persons age 65 and older.

For tickets, please call 402-345-1576.

T

‘Because Life Changes’ classes begin in July, September wo sessions of Because Life Changes, a complimentary, six-week series are being offered on Saturdays during 2015 at the St. James Parish Center, 4701 N. 90th St., from 10 to 11:30 a.m.

Sessions are scheduled for July 11 through Aug. 15 and Sept. 12 through Oct. 17 • Week 1: Dementia & Other Chronic Illnesses: The Road to a Diagnosis and Beyond with certified

care manager Jan Hannasch.

• Week 2: L.T.C. Planning: A Process; Not a Product with Cathy A. Wyatt.

• Week 3: Legal Documents: Have Them, Have Them Up to Date, Have Them Accessible with estate planning attorney Niel Nielsen.

• Week 4: Safe Environment Training: At Home & In the Community with occupational therapist BevVan Phillips and mobility expert Mark Zach.

• Week 5: The ‘Moving’ Parts: Successfully Getting from One Home to Another with real estate broker Mike Fujan.

• Week 6: Community Resources: Know What You Don’t Know with Michaela Williams of the ElderCare Resource Handbook.

For more information, call: 402-661-9611.

Fed employee groups meet at Omaha eatery The National Active and Retired Federal Employees’ Chapter 144 meets the first Wednesday of each month at 11:30 a.m. at the Amazing Pizza Machine, 13955 S Plz. For more information, please call 402-292-1156.

The National Active and Retired Federal Employees’ Aksarben Chapter 1370 meets the second Wednesday of each month at 11:30 a.m. at the Amazing Pizza Machine, 13955 S Plz. For more information, please call 402-342-4351.

Older Nebraskans have free access to legal info Legal Aid of Nebraska operates a free telephone access line for Nebraskans age 60 and older.

Information is offered to help the state’s older men and women with questions on topics like bankruptcy, homestead exemptions, collections, powers of attorney, Medicare, Medicaid, grandparent rights, and Section 8 housing.

The telephone number for the Elder Access Line is 402-827-5656 in Omaha and 1-800-527-7249 statewide.

This service is available to Nebraskans age 60 and older regardless of income, race, or ethnicity.

For more information, log on the Internet to http:// www.legalaidofnebraska. com/EAL. VOTES WANTED PLEASE GO TO

www.lightthebridge.org 100% non-profit addressing hunger VOTES TO DATE • For: 2,501 • Against: 90 • Please vote today to address hunger.

May 2015

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New Horizons

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Page 7

Corrigan Senior Center You’re invited to visit the Corrigan Senior Center, 3819 X St., this month for: • May 4: Kentucky Derby party. We’ll celebrate the “Run For The Roses” Corrigan style by wearing horse and rose theme clothing, hats, and accessories. Prizes for the best outfits. Join us for 11 a.m. chair volleyball, a noon lunch, and Bingo @ 1 p.m.

• May 6, 20, & 27: Crafts with Anita @ 10:30 a.m.

Make beautiful and creative items. Craft items will be supplied. A donation is being requested. Stay for ceramics class following lunch.

• May 7: Spaghetti dinner and container and small gardens planting tips by a representative from Sun Valley.

Tai Chi @ 10 a.m. and chair volleyball @ 11. Talk on gardening @ 12:45 p.m. and Bingo @1:30 p.m.

• May 8: Mother’s Day celebration with chicken for lunch and strawberry cheesecake pudding for dessert. Wear your favorite hat or outfit. Word search games and prizes begin at 10:30 a.m.

• May 11: Birthday party with music by Kim Eames from the Merrymakers @ 11 a.m. Stay for lunch and Bingo.

• May 13: Broadway Bound program by St. Peter & Paul students @ 10:15 a.m. Pork loin or chicken cordon bleu salad lunch.

• May 14: Talk on seasonal allergy tips by a pharmacist from Walgreen’s @ 1 p.m. Lunch is a chicken breast with orange cranberry sauce. Stay for Bingo at 1:45 p.m.

• May 18: Mother’s Month celebration with the Omaha Dancing Grannies @ 11:30 a.m. Lunch and Bingo to follow. Wear your fun attire.

• May 21: Roast beef dinner & Mega Bingo. Win part of a $75 Bingo jackpot with raffles and more. The reservation deadline is noon on Friday, May 15.

• May 26: John Wayne’s birthday celebration with John Wayne movie trivia and prizes. Wear your favorite western attire. Fish or deli turkey chef salad for lunch, followed by Bingo.

New players are welcome to play chair volleyball every Tuesday and Thursday @ 11 a.m.

Join us for Tai Chi, a relaxing and fun activity that’s proven to improve your balance Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m. in our spacious gym.

Bingo, ceramics, exercise, woodcarving, and loads of fun are also available.

The Corrigan Senior Center is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Lunch is served at noon. A $3.50 contribution is normally suggested for the meal.

Reservations are normally due by noon the business day prior to the meal you wish to enjoy.

For meal reservations or more information, please call Lynnette at 402-731-7210.

A

Return homestead exemption applications by June 30

pplicants whose names are on file in the assessor’s office in Douglas, Sarpy, Dodge, Cass, and Washington counties should have a homestead exemption form mailed to them by early March.

New applicants must contact their county assessor’s office to receive the application.

The 2015 forms and a household income statement must be completed and returned to the county assessor’s office by June 30, 2015.

A homestead exemption provides property tax relief by exempting all or part of the homestead’s valuation from taxation. The state of Nebraska reimburses the counties and other government subdivisions for the lost tax revenue.

To qualify for a homestead exemption, a Nebraska homeowner must be age 65 by Jan. 1, 2015, the home’s owner/occupant through Aug. 15, 2015, and fall within the income guidelines shown below.

Certain homeowners who have a disability and totally-disabled war veterans and their widow(er)s may also be eligible for this annual tax break.

When determining household income, applicants must include Social Security and Railroad Retirement benefits plus any

Household income table Over age 65 married income

Over age 65 single income

Exemption %

0 - $32,000.99 $32,001 - $33,800.99 $33,801 - $35,500.99 $35,501 - $37,200.99 $37,201 - $39,000.99 $39,001 - $40,700.99 $40,701 - $42,400.99 $42,401 - $44,100.99 $44,101 - $45,900.99 $45,901 - $47,600.99 $47, 601 and over

0 to $27,300.99 $27,301 - $28,700.99 $28,701 - $30,100.99 $30,101 - $31,500.99 $31,501 - $33,000.99 $33,001 - $34,400.99 $34,401 - $35,800.99 $35,801 - $37,200.99 $37,201 - $38,700.99 $38,701 - $40,100.99 $40,101 and over

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

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income for which they receive a Form 1099.

The homestead exemption amount is based on the homeowner’s marital status and income level (see below). Maximum exemptions are based on the average assessed value for residential property in each Nebraska county.

The Douglas County Assessor/Register of Deeds’ office (1819 Farnam St.) is sending volunteers into the community to help older adults complete the application form. The volunteers will be located at sites throughout the county. A list of these locations will be included with your application.

Assistance is also available by calling the Volunteers Assisting Seniors at 402444-6617.

Douglas County residents can also have their homestead exemption questions answered by calling 402-597-6659.

Here are the telephone numbers for the assessor’s offices in the counties served by the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging: Douglas: 402-444-7060; Sarpy: 402593-2122; Dodge: 402-727-3916; Cass: 402-296-9310; and Washington: 402426-6800.

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New Horizons

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www.immanuelagewell.com

May 2015

6801 N. 67th Plaza, Suite 100

Omaha, NE 68152

Some answers to your questions about unplanned life changes for older adults

By Mark Kresl

H

ere is a series of questions and answers regarding unplanned life changes and older adults.

Q: What type(s) of unplanned life changes do you see the most in your line of work? What is/are the most difficult aspect(s) of the unplanned life changes you see with your clients?

A: The most common unplanned life changes I see are families facing decisions about a loved one’s care they hadn’t planned or prepared for. Many times a family will be told their loved one must have additional care, either in the home or in a care community. They often have to make a decision in a matter of hours or a few days. The decision they make will have a profound effect on the loved one’s life and happiness.

Making quick decisions without proper research often results in unsatisfactory outcomes.

Q: What professional advice would you give to people who have aging parents or loved ones?

A: The best advice I can give to anyone is to not wait to learn about eldercare options. If you have a parent or loved one who is starting to show signs of needing help or has health issues that could require intervention, start investigating your options right away so you can

make the most informed decision and the select the care that best suits the loved one’s needs.

There are many options in eldercare depending on the individual’s needs. Some of those options include nonmedical in-home care, in-home nursing care, assisted-living, skilled nursing, and memory care. Your loved one can be evaluated by a professional who can explain the options that best suit that person’s needs.

Q: Based upon your area of expertise, what are some of the best strategies and methods for addressing and dealing with life's unplanned changes? How do you assist your clients with these changes?

A: Don’t wait until you’re faced with having to make a decision to begin researching options. Begin planning today. There are many issues at stake here. In addition to wanting the best care possible for your loved one, there are financial issues that, if addressed today, can make things go much smoother when the time comes Q: Is there any other information you would like to add on the topic of unplanned life changes?

A: There are many resources available to help you learn about eldercare. The Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging is the best place to start. ENOA is a non-profit agency whose sole focus is to serve as a community resource in the area of aging. For more information, please call ENOA at 402444-6536.

Care Consultants for the Aging produces a resource handbook that lists care providers in the Omaha area and their areas of expertise. You can get this information for free by visiting www.careconsultants.com or by calling 402-398-1848 to receive the book for a nominal charge.

(Kresl is with Midwest Geriatrics, Inc. in Omaha.)

Series of programs for caregivers of persons with dementia are scheduled for spring, fall A free educational series of programs that will help caregivers of persons with dementia understand how to provide the best possible care for their loved ones will be offered this spring and fall. Called Learning to Live with Dementia, the presentations focus on the various types of dementia and how to manage symptoms.

The spring series is designed for working persons and will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on May 2 and June 6 at St. Vincent de Paul Church, 14330 Eagle Run Dr. To register, contact Wendy Everson at 402496-7988, ext. 239 or eversonw@svdpomaha. org. Registration is limited so persons who sign up are asked to attend both ses-

sions.

The fall series takes place Sept. 9, Oct. 14, Nov. 11, and Dec. 9 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at the Servite Center of Compassion, 7400 Military Ave. To register, contact Sister Margaret Stratman at 402951-3026 or scc@osms. org. Registration is limited so persons who sign up are asked to attend all four sessions.

The four components of the program – which are the same for both series – are: • Dementia basics focusing on four types of dementia.

• Mystery and reality of living with different dementias covering the symptoms, behaviors, and preserved skills of the four types of dementia.

• Person-centered care discusses the importance of short-term and long-term individual planning for both the caregiver and the care receiver.

• Compassionate care outlines resources available for support and talks about the Compassionate Journey.

“Taking care of a person with dementia presents unique challenges, and this series provides caregivers with helpful information and also provides a forum for caregivers to learn from and support each other,” said Nancy Flaherty, president of Flaherty Senior Consulting.

For more information, please contact Nancy Flaherty at 402-312-9324 or flahertyconsulting@cox.net.

May 2015

Majority of thoracic physicians believe climate change is having negative impact on their patients

T

he American Thoracic Society (ATS) has published the results of a survey of the ATS membership on climate change that found the majority of ATS members believe climate change is real and it’s having a negative impact on the health of their patients.

“Our physician members are seeing the effects climate change is having on the well-being of their patients,” said John R. Balmes, MD, Chair of the ATS Environmental Health Policy Committee, who was one of the survey’s authors.

“These results talk to the importance of groups involved in healthcare taking a stand on this issue, and educating their members and the patients they serve that climate change is a healthcare issue.”

Key results of the survey include: • 89 percent of respondents believe climate change is happening.

• 68 believe climate change is being driven entirely or mostly by human activity.

• 65 percent believe climate change is relevant to direct patient care (either a great deal or a moderate amount).

• Free text responses indicate physician believe they’re seeing climate change health effects in patients.

T

he survey, which was conducted by the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University, polled 5,500 US ATS members and asked a series of questions about climate change and its impact on patients. The survey had a response rate of 17 percent and received responses from 49 states and the District of Columbia.

Reported adverse health effects attributed to climate change included worsening of asthma due to exposure to ozone or other pollutants, longer and more severe allergy seasons, and an increased number of cases of acute and chronic lung conditions.

(The American Thoracic Society provided this information.)

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New Horizons

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Page 9

Paul Williams sober, serene, making memorable music again at 74

By Leo Adam Biga

A half-dozen years or so Contributing Writer ago a longtime fan, filmmaker Stephen Kessler, ongwriter Paul Wilbecame intrigued with whatliams reached Holever happened to Williams. lywood’s apex by age As the resulting film (Paul 39 before losing everything Williams Still Alive) Kessler to booze, pills, and powder. made shows at the peak of As the Omaha native tried his stardom Williams was picking up the pieces of his an addict consumed by fame shattered life and career, he and ego, driven to get his virtually disappeared from next fix. public view.

There are old clips of WilThe title of a 2011 doculiams doing TV guest spots mentary about him, Paul while high, vainly, cavaWilliams Still Alive, refers lierly bragging about his to the understandable asexcesses. On national TV he sumption that somewhere openly joked about his infialong the line he suffered delities. In the documentary, an untimely death, when viewers see how uncomfortin reality nothing could be able it is for Williams today further from the truth. to view how recklessly he At 74 Williams is not only behaved back then.

Photo by Pat Padua/Library of Congress alive and well but riding a His problems contributed new wave of success that to the breakup of his first Despite years of alcohol and substance abuse, the recovering Paul Williams is has people who don’t know marriage and derailed his happier today because he no longer measures joy in terms of dollars, record his story wondering whatcareer. Calls from producers sales, and media spots but in the 12-step recovery work he does. ever became of him. and agents dried up.

His rise to stardom was – staying grateful, trusting fers to them “co-dependent where he shined with his But as the documentary so strong and fast and his in the future, choosing faith anthems” included We’ve quick wit. film also shows, Williams descent into obscurity so se- over fear, and watching Only Just Begun, You and At only 5 feet 2 inches long ago kicked his addicvere and swift that even he your life get better.

Me Against the World, and his small stature made him tion habit and along the way excuses anyone for thinking “Tracey and I met when Evergreen. stand out even more. Fahe remarried and rededicathe checked out. In a way, I was a mess. She then saw Paul was nominated mously, upon accepting the ed himself to his family. he did. Paul lost himself to me in a very different light for Oscars and Grammy Oscar for the Best Original For the documentary film addiction and in the process when I was 11 years sober.

Awards. He scored the films Song Williams shared with Williams wrote an original all the material success he’d She has always claimed to Bugsy Malone, A Star is Barbra Streisand for Eversong, Still Alive, that distills built. But in recovery he’s have recovery envy. The Born (the 1976 version), and green, he quipped, “I was what it’s like to look at his gained things more imporconcept of our book is that The Muppet Movie. He also going to thank all the little addicted self from the lens tant than money can buy. A recovery is not just for adwrote the theme music to people, and then I rememof his sober eyes. book he co-wrote offers the dicts. It’s been wonderfully the top-rated TV show, The bered I am the little people.”

Here are some of the lyraffirmations for daily living received. I’m happy to say Love Boat. Williams was a ics: he follows. the recovery community has popular concert performer eneath the cocksure “I don’t know you in “We don’t really conembraced it.” and recording artist. smile and glib repar- those clothes. I don’t know trol our lives as much as In the 1970s and 1980s Also an actor, he turned tee lurked a desperyou with that hair. Two-diwe think we do,” says Williams was seemingly up in films and episodic TV ate man trying and failing mensional reflection. UnforWilliams, who employs everywhere at once in the series, ranging from dramat- by sheer willpower alone to giving unaware. Part time spiritual disciplines to stay entertainment world. One of ic to comedic roles, somebattle inner demons. Then, dreamer. Would be player. centered. “My book, Gratithat era’s top pop lyricists times even playing himself. the facade crumbled. As You thought fame could tude and Trust (Recovery and composers, his music His celebrity was such that suddenly as he’d burst onto outrun fear.” is Not Just for Addicts) I permeated radio, movies, he made countless guest the scene, Paul vanished, his “That’s probably as acwrote with Tracey Jackson and television. His hit love appearances on talk, variety, once ubiquitous presence curate a line as I’ve ever is exactly about that process songs or as he jokingly regame, and awards shows, was nowhere to be seen. written about anything and certainly about myself,” Williams says about fear.

“One of the greatest challenges of my life was to look at a film about myself and then write a song kind of to myself.”

He still cringes at some of his boorish behavior caught on film.

“There are parts of it that are hard for me to watch.

Like the Merv Griffin Show, when I was so arrogant and Your home is best and Immanuel Pathways’ goal is to help you continue living in your home as long as possible. just a shallow little a-- with this smirk on my face. What Our program provides a complete system of health care. The service is called PACE, which stands for: was most difficult about it is Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly. We provide primary and hospital care as well as prescription that I had no idea that’s who drugs, adult day services, transportation and so much more to our participants. Services are provided in the I’d become.” home, at the PACE Center and in the community.

The lyrics to his song Still Alive continue by asking: For complete program details and benefits, please call 402-991-0330.

“Where did you disappear?”

But as the film makes clear Paul has never stopped writing and touring, he just plays to smaller crowds, in 5755 Sorensen Parkway | Omaha, NE 68152 | www.immanuelpathways.org smaller venues, away from the spotlight. Williams is

S

B

Your home.Your care.Your pace.

PACE participants may be fully and personally liable for the costs of unauthorized or out-of-PACE program services. Emergency services are covered. Participants may disenroll at any time.

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New Horizons

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May 2015

--Please turn to page 11.

Documentary about Williams shares a message of hope, healing --Continued from page 10. happier though than before because he no longer measures joy in terms of dollars, record sales, and media spots but in the 12-step recovery work he does to maintain his sobriety and to be of service to others.

All of which is why in addition to legendary songwriter, you can now add grateful survivor when describing Williams, who celebrated 25 years in recovery in March.

K

essler set out to make a documentary charting the artist’s rise and fall. It covers that journey but also reveals the most important things to Paul now are his recovery and family. A father of two grown children, Williams lives with his wife, Mariana near the ocean in Long Beach, Calif.

Williams was a reluctant subject for the film’s unvarnished portrait of his failings and he only did the project on the condition that it share a message of hope and healing, and that it highlight the changed man he is today.

In a phone interview Williams confirmed his new spiritual basis for living.

“The way I perceived my life changed drastically when I got sober and I began to see a little less through the distorted image of my own ego and began to see it as the absolute gift it was.

“I get up in the morning and I say a three-word prayer, ‘Surprise me, God.’ It implies complete trust. And then my second prayer is, ‘Lead me where you need me.’ If I’m relevant and useful I’m not in the way. If I’m not in the way, I’m not scared. If I’m not scared, I have a tendency to listen, and when I listen I sometimes actually learn something.”

Where Williams once saw himself as the center of the universe and responsible for all his success, he now sees things differently.

“The drugs and alcohol I consumed totally clouded how I perceived life. Then add the distortion of a growingly unhealthy ego. The fact is I never wrote a hit song because of the drugs, I wrote successful songs in spite of the drugs.

“The longer I’m sober the less I claim the success – the more I attribute it to a real gift. I’m not talking about my gift or the talent; I’m talking about the gift of the universe. If you tap into a sort of non-competitive thought process where you’re not worried about what the other guy’s doing but you’re just expressing what you feel, you connect.”

Williams says in the throes of addiction thoughts of grandiosity ran amok.

“You know, when I was drunk I was just brilliant, and the more I drank and the more I got into ego and the more I tried to write from my head and be clever and all; the worse the music got.

“One of the key elements of successful communicating is what we have in common, not the differences. So when I was authentic, when I would reach down into my chest and write about whatever I was feeling, whether it was loneliness or the longing for real love or how it felt to be falling in love, no matter how ‘Hallmarky’ or sentimental the lyrics may have been, other people related because we have so much in common as far as the emotional scale we travel as human beings.”

Paul says he has drawers full of songs written under the influence of ego that will never see the light of day because no one can relate to them.

Williams shared the message of getting out of your head and getting in touch with your heart at a Nebraska recovery convention he spoke at last year. He travels widely delivering recovery talks.

The film shows him in action at one such event.

About sharing his recovery message, he says, “It’s a chance to share the amazing gift I’ve been given and it feels like my most important work.”

Instead of the documentary movie Kessler imagined making about a man in despair over a fall from grace, he portrays a man content with his life. During production Williams was elected chairman and president of ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, which protects the rights of music artists. The post, which he continues in today, gives him a higher profile than he’s had in decades.

Since the film’s release, Williams’ profile has expanded even more, mainly due to a career resurgence he’s enjoying as a creative artist. In 2014 he shared the Grammy Award for Best Album of the Year with Daft Punk, with whom he collaborated on their platinum release, Random Access Memories.

Williams was asked to write songs for the smash animated film, The Book of Life (2014).

And he’s been tabbed to co-write the stage adaptation of the acclaimed film Pan’s Labyrnith.

Not surprisingly, he views this professional comeback from the prism of humility and grati-

In 2014, Paul shared the Grammy Award for Best Album of the Year with Daft Punk, with whom he collaborated on their platinum release, ‘Random Access Memories.’ tude he sees the world in today.

“I haven’t chased any of the things coming to me. I’ve really just been concentrating on one thing – my recovery – and living by those principles. I have found in that everything I needed and everything I wanted. I think the misplaced years of my addiction are probably the most important years of my life in the sense that they set me up for the life I have today.”

Where before fame consumed him, now it’s all relative.

“The perspective is so different. When I won the Grammy with Daft Punk almost my first thought was: I will once again be awakened by the cat that treats me like staff to feed her, and I’ll be on the bay where I live with a wonderful view. Mariana (his wife) will be next to me, and in a year it’ll be somebody else’s turn to have this (award).

“It was a nice moment but almost what was a better moment was realizing there was no sense of that being a target or something to sail towards. Whereas in the ‘70s I was nominated for the Academy Award six times and was counting the nominations and looking for that second win.

I don’t do that anymore. The valuation of the recognition is very different and I think a big part of that is because I was so addicted to the attention.

I was almost as addicted to the attention I was getting – plopping myself down on any couch in

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front of any camera – as I was to the cocaine and the vodka.

Eventually the addiction to the cocaine and the vodka outran the other addiction and took me off the map and put me in hiding for a decade.”

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he seeds of Williams’ addiction may lie in an insecure childhood that saw his family move wherever his Peter Kiewit and Sons engineer father’s work took them. Paul was born in Omaha and later lived in Bennington for his father’s work on a major expansion project at Boys Town.

“I was a construction brat. I went to nine schools by the time I was in the ninth grade. I went from living in Rapid City, S.D. to living in Lucasville, Ohio, and from Albuquerque, N.M. to Omaha and Bennington to wherever next. I was always the new kid in school. I was the littlest guy in the class.”

Williams sees the roots of his collaborative nature – he’s teamed with Roger Nichols, Kenneth Ascher, Barbra Streisand, and more recently with Gustavo Santaolalla – in all the moving around he did.

“I think I learned to adapt to the language wherever I was. People have said to me, ‘You have an unusual accent.’ Well, God knows what my accent is today because I’m a bit of a chameleon. It’s like there’s a little bit of BS in my DNA where just to survive I kind of learned to adapt as a kid to what was going on around me and I tried to sound a part of it.

“I think that social adaptability that was part of my growing up eventually morphed into the kind of collaborator I am. The opportunity to open up and be aware of what’s going on around me is part of the process that made the things I’ve done successful.

“The other thing is that now in sobriety I’m trying to be a better listener today with everybody.”

In the documentary Williams explains why he’s so short when the rest of his family is normal height for their age and sex. His parents became alarmed Paul wasn’t growing normally and they made the decision to give him male hormone shots.

“Actually what they did wasn’t the right thing to do because it closes off the bones and they stop growing.”

He displayed a knack for music as a child and while his body didn’t keep pace with his peers, his voice got deeper faster than theirs. Further setting him apart was his fascination with swing music.

“I think it’s interesting the music I cared for in high school – when everybody was listening to Rock ‘n’ Roll – was the Great American Songbook. I was listening to Sinatra, Mel Torme, and Ella Fitzgerald, but specifically Sinatra.”

It all contributed to Williams feeling awkward because of how different he was, which began a lifetime pursuit of wanting to feel special. As he often says, “To be different is difficult – to be special is addicting.”

His parents entered Paul in talent shows. His father, who had a drinking problem, would wake him in the middle of the night to sing Danny Boy. His old man, who once drove drunk with Paul in the car, died in an alcohol-related one-car wreck in Ohio when Paul was 13. Years later, when Williams was a parent and drinking heavily, he drove drunk with his own kids in the car.

“Something I swore I’d never do,” he confesses in the film.

Paul went to live with an aunt in California.

What was supposed to be a short stay ended up being years. In the film Williams relates that his aunt laid a heavy guilt trip on him by saying, “If you go back and live with your mom every bite --Please turn to page 12.

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Page 11

As an actor, Williams worked with Redford, Brando, Jane Fonda

Paul Williams penned the lyrics and Barbra Streisand wrote the music for the 1976 Oscar Award-winning song, ‘Evergreen’ from the movie ‘A Star is Born.’

--Continued fom page 11. of food you take will be a bite out of your little brother’s mouth because she can’t afford you both, so you need to stay here.’”

“In a way, it was like I lost both parents,” Williams adds.

Music no longer held an appeal.

“When my dad was killed I kind of turned away from music. I quit singing, I didn’t want to sing, (and) and I didn’t want to be a part of music. It’s interesting because that’s about the point I wanted to be an actor and a good therapist would say, ‘Ah, your dad died, you turned away from music, and you wanted to be somebody else,’ because that’s what acting is – a chance to be somebody else.”

Williams made his own way as a young actor.

“It was kind of learn by doing. I started doing plays and I worked in commercials.”

He also did improvisational comedy on a Los Angeles TV show hosted by political comic Mort Sahl.

Williams’ big break came with speaking parts in two mid-1960s Hollywood movies, The Loved One starring Robert Morse, Jonathan Winters, Rod Steiger, and John Gielgud, and The Chase starring Marlon Brando, Angie Dickinson, Robert Redford, and Jane Fonda.

In the former, a surreal social satire, Paul was a whiz kid obsessed with rocketry. In the latter, an overripe Southern soap opera, he was a rebel teen. In each, he played characters several years younger than his real age.

“There was nothing close to a logical element of the decision to be

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an actor,” he says. “I mean, I always joke I felt like Montgomery Clift but I looked like Haley Mills. Into my 20s I played kids. I looked like a kid until you put me next to a real kid and then I looked like a kid with a hangover.”

Though neither film fared well and his part in The Chase was radically reduced in the cutting room, Paul got to work with A-list talent, including directors Tony Richardson (Loved One) and Arthur Penn (The Chase).

“When you’re a kid from Omaha there’s nothing more completely romantic and exciting than to walk on the set of a large motion picture production, to see the lights, the camera. All of a sudden you turn and there to your left is Sir John Gielgud and there to your right is Jonathan Winters. It’s a spectacular, life-changing event. Culturally it’s like going to Europe the first time.

It’s like, oh my, look at all this.”

Williams was awed by Winters, whom he considered a comic genius. “I followed him around like a puppy. When I started recording one of the first appearances on television I made was on his show. He was always so kind to me.”

On the set of The Chase Williams began fooling around with a guitar and writing songs. In one of his scenes that survived the final cut he sings a tune he penned.

Two decades later, for Elaine May’s Ishtar, Paul had the tricky task of writing “believably bad songs – songs which sounded like they just missed” for the comedy about hackneyed songwriters played

by Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoff-

New Horizons

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man. “I’m really proud of the songs.

They’re almost good…almost.”

Other notable directors he worked with in front of or behind the camera include Melvin Van Peebles, J. Lee Thompson, Brian De Palma, Alan Parker, Garry Marshall, Oliver Stone, and Luis Puenzo.

Then, when Williams’ acting career stalled, music went from being a source of solace to his livelihood.

“Having no money to go out and wine and dine or go to the movies and being essentially broke, I turned to songwriting. It became my therapy and then the great surprise was that as soon as I started writing I knew this was what I was here to do. It was an amazing sense of comfort putting everything in the center of my chest into the songs.

“There was an element of craft in the very first song I wrote. I don’t know if you’re a believer in past lives but I am and it’s almost as if I had done it before. I had a sense of form, I had a sense of rhyme scheme, and I had a sense for a story progressing.

“As I look back on it now I think you put your name on it but it’s almost as if you have unseen help writing these songs, and I still feel that way about the craft today. I think that inspiration is very difficult to truly identify.”

W

illiams and Biff Rose wrote a tune that took Paul to A & M Records as a staff songwriter. Producer Richard Perry took a liking to Paul’s work.

“The very first songs I wrote began getting recorded. I recorded an album with Richard called The Holy Mackerel. I don’t think even my family bought the album but it was the beginning of my recording career. The song Biff and I wrote, Fill Your Heart was later recorded

by David Bowie on his Hunky Dory album. It was the first song he ever recorded he didn’t write and I am eternally grateful for that.”

Williams was eventually paired with composer Roger Nichols.

“I would write during the day with Roger and he would go home to his girlfriend. I would stay in the office and write with anybody that came by or write alone. None of my early songs were hits until I went to Europe in 1970 to work on a project called Wings with Herb Albert and Michel Colombier. When I came back I had two songs in the Top 10 at the same time – Out in the Country by Three Dog Night and We’ve Only Just Begun by The Carpenters.

That garnered a lot of attention and we were off and running.”

Having his music find a large, receptive audience was even more than Paul imagined possible.

“I had no idea I would have an opportunity to make the kind of living I did off of that music.”

An early concert gig brought him back to Omaha for a warm greeting.

“One of my great memories when I was first performing was on the road with The Fifth Dimension

May 2015

as their opening act. I was having some success as a songwriter but I wasn’t the most well known person trotting onto a stage anywhere.

When we got to Omaha it was as if they brought the Pope to Mexico City because the news had got out I was from Omaha and the audience gave me an amazing response. I’ll never forget that reception.”

Williams says his experiences writing with Nichols and later Kenneth Ascher were the longest lasting and most constructive and successful of the collaborations.

“Kenny had been a piano player for me and we started writing songs together. We wrote most of the songs for A Star is Born together.

We wrote the songs for The Muppet Movie together. We wrote You and Me Against the World for Helen Reddy.

“Working with both Kenny and Roger I would describe as my music school. In the area of music discipline I learned a lot from both. To this very day there is nothing more interesting or exciting than to sit down with a total stranger in their kitchen or in an office and start sharing what’s going on in our lives.

Out of that conversation and kind of mini-therapy session comes a song all of a sudden.”

Of Paul’s recent collaboration with Gustavo Santaolalla – they wrote songs for Book of Life and they’re adapting Pan’s Labyrinth for Guillermo del Toro – Williams says, “I don’t think I’ve had a collaborative experience more emotional for me. Gustavo is a spectacular artist and composer. He writes incredible, heart-wrenching melodies.”

Williams enjoyed a warm working relationship with the late puppeteer Jim Henson on The Muppet Movie. Williams says Henson was so “easy-going and completely trusting” that he deferred hearing the songs Williams and Ascher wrote for the film until they were recorded.

“Remarkable amount of trust and freedom for a major Hollywood film.” One of its songs, The Rainbow Connection, became a hit.

As his celebrity increased Williams became a rarity among songwriters – a household name and face. He also joined a long line of native Nebraskans to find Hollywood success. He made nearly 50 appearances on the Tonight Show, whose host, Johnny Carson, was a fellow Nebraskan. Paul’s notoriety benefited from his Lilliputian size and shoulder-length locks. He simply looked like no one else.

The success of his music career led to new acting opportunities, including his role as Virgil in Battle for the Planet of the Apes and the part of Little Enos in the Smokey and the Bandit franchise.

A film Williams scored and acted in, Brian De Palma’s Phantom of the Paradise (1974) owns a small but devoted following but he never --Please turn to page 13.

Songwriter Paul Williams...

--Continued from page 12. expected it would lead to a career boost four decades later.

“We assumed Phantom of the Paradise was a failure when it came out because it had so little attention, especially in the United States, but in France (and in Winnipeg) it was a revered odd little cult film. Two young Frenchmen went to the theater where it was showing and saw it 20 times and they formed a group called Daft Punk. They sought me out to come and work for them on their album, Random Access Memories. I wrote a couple of the songs and sung on the album with them and last year we won the album of the year.”

Another devotee of the film turned out to be Guillermo del Toro, the Mexican-born producer-director.

“I was approached by Guillermo del Toro because evidently I performed back in Mexico City when he was in his late teens and he apparently came to me with a vinyl of the soundtrack album of Phantom of the Paradise. He was a huge fan then and his affection for the film did not wane. Years later he’s on the phone with me asking if I would do this adaptation of his Pan’s Labrynith.

“So I’m having all these amazing opportunities walk up to me because of something I could have written off as a failure, and I think there’s a great life lesson in that for me and for all of us.”

Not only does Williams see things in a new light in recovery, he approaches work from a new vantage point, too.

“My whole creative process is so different now. It’s back to a very unconscious effort. I would say the most important time of my writing is the time between when I look at the project, know what I’m supposed to do, and then sit down to do it. I always leave a little space now – a couple days where I’m not thinking about it. But I know my unconscious is because when I sit down to work on it so much of it’s done and I know it came out of me but I wasn’t there when it was worked on.”

U. Georgia study: Social isolation can lead to increased healthcare use among older adults

E

xperiences of loneliness and social isolation can lead to increased healthcare use among older adults, according to new research from the University of Georgia College of Public Health.

The study, published online in the American Journal of Public Health, found the frequency of physician visits was particularly influenced by chronic loneliness—and suggests the identification and targeting of interventions for lonely older adults may significantly decrease physician visits and healthcare costs.

“Logically, it makes sense that people who are in poorer health because of loneliness would use healthcare more,” said study co-author Kerstin Gerst Emerson, an assistant professor of health policy and management.

“But we wondered, could people also be visiting their doctor or making those extra appointments because they were lonely?”

To answer this question, Emerson and co-author Jayani Jayawardhana, also an assistant professor in health policy and management, looked at how loneliness impacted the number of physician visits and hospitalizations reported by older adults living among the general population and not in a retirement community.

Their analysis relied on data from the 2008 and 2012 University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study, a national survey of Americans over age 50.

To gauge loneliness, study participants were asked how often they felt they lacked companionship, how often they felt left out, and hough Wilhow often they felt isolated from liams lived in others. Their responses, ranging the Heartland from “often” to “some of the time” only through adolesto “hardly ever or never,” were cence, he says, then used to create an index of “I think there is an loneliness, where higher scores on element of midthe scale equaled higher loneliness. western values that Respondents who were identified as may have been an lonely in both years of the study were undercurrent to my considered to be chronically lonely. success. My simple “We often assume if a person has background and enough friends and relatives they are upbringing made its doing OK. But loneliness is not the same as being alone. You can be lonely way into songs that in a crowded room. It’s very much about how you feel about your actual were not clever but social relationships,” said Emerson, who is also a faculty member in the were honest about college’s Institute of Gerontology. what I was feeling.

Emerson and Jayawardhana reviewed responses from 3,530 communityI think there’s a lot dwelling adults age 60 and older, comparing their loneliness scores with of Nebraska in their self-reported hospital stays and physician visits. that.”

The researchers found while loneliness experienced at only one time In a lifetime of point did not predict health care use, chronic loneliness – being lonely achievements, Paul Paul Williams with Tracey Jackson, the in both 2008 and 2012 – was significantly associated with an increased says probably his co-authors of the book, ‘Gratitude and Trust number of doctor visits. Although Emerson and Jayawardhana had highest, greatest (Recovery is Not Just for Addicts)’. hypothesized that chronic loneliness would impact both physician visits honor is the great and hospitalizations, only physician visits were significant in their sample work he does for ASCAP. “We have 526,000 members and to be able to of older adults. make sure they’re properly compensated for their work is key. I mean, I “This finding made sense to us,” Jayawardhana said. “You build a have a daughter who’s a social worker and I was able to acquire the educarelationship with your physician over the years, so a visit to the doctor’s tion for her, put food on the table and gas in the car because of ASCAP. office is like seeing a friend. Hospitalizations, on the other hand, require a Other people deserve to have the same.” referral from a doctor, and you don’t know who you will see.”

Success the second time around is a different experience for Williams The study’s findings support a growing body of research establishing because he’s a new man. The misery that led him to act out and to repeat loneliness as a significant public health issue among older adults. Over half his father’s sins has given way to appreciation. of study respondents reported being lonely, with that percentage increasing “As I get older I’m recognizing I’ve had magnificent opportunities that from 53 percent to 57 percent four years later. Lonely respondents also were absolute gifts.”

He lives life now trusting new blessings will arrive and new dreams will reported more problems with daily living tasks and a greater number of depressive symptoms. They also were less likely to count their health as be fulfilled. One day at a time. good, very good, or excellent.

Despite its high prevalence of among older men and women and its “Once reality’s your roommate, and the truth stands at your door, all clear implications on both health outcomes and health care use, Emerson your records may be broken. Trophies won’t shine anymore. New beginsaid, public health officials and medical professionals pay little attention to nings are the challenge, but you’re not sure where to start. Unimagined loneliness. gifts are waiting. Love will find your grateful heart. Then again, once The UGA study suggests that since chronically lonely older adults are again, you will come to know the simple man you’ve always been. And likely to turn to physicians for social contact, healthcare workers should someone asked me once where do we go when we arrive. If you’re lucky, take loneliness into consideration as a factor when seeing patients for other when it’s over, the dreamer’s still alive.” illnesses and complaints.

“Loneliness is something that is easily preventable and with little --Lyrics from Still Alive by Paul Williams cost compared to other chronic illnesses,” Jayawardhana said. “With an interventions as simple as a phone call, home visit, or community To learn more about the life and career of Paul Williams, visit his webprogram, you can avoid unnecessary health care utilization and additional site at www.paulwilliamsofficial.com. expenditures that ultimately cost all of us as a society.”

(Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.com.)

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RSVP Retired and Senior Volunteer Program The Retired and Senior Volunteer Program is recruiting persons age 55 and older for a variety of opportunities. For more information in Douglas, Sarpy, and Cass counties, please call 402-444-6536, ext. 224.

In Dodge and Washington counties, please call 402721-7780.

The following have volunteer opportunities in Douglas, Sarpy, and Cass counties: • The Disabled American Veterans need volunteer drivers.

• The Douglas County Civic Center/Hall of Justice wants volunteers to host tours.

• The American Can-

cer Society is looking for volunteers to assist walk in guests and for other duties.

• The Douglas County Health Center wants volunteers for a variety of assignments.

• Bergan Mercy Medical Center is looking for volunteers to help in several areas.

• Rebuilding Together wants volunteers to work on home projects.

• The Skyline Retirement Community is looking for volunteer for fitness classes and to visit with its residents.

• Catholic Charities Christ Child Center North wants volunteers to help older adults with crafts, outing, and other activities.

• Mount View Elementary School is looking for a TeamMates mentor.

The following have a volunteer opportunity in Dodge and/or Washington County: • The Blair and Fremont Car-Go Program needs

volunteer drivers.

• The Fremont Friendship Center wants volunteers to facilitate classes.

• The Danish American Archive Library needs volunteers to help with its archives.

• The American Red Cross (Dodge County chapter) wants volunteers.

Dance Wednesdays at Legion Post #1 You’re invited to attend a dance each Wednesday afternoon from 1 to 4 at American Legion Post #1, 7811 Davenport St. Admission is $2.

For more information, please call 402-392-0444.

The New Horizons is brought to you each month by the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging.

Partnerships in Caregiving accepted into Baker’s Supermarkets’ rewards program Partnerships in Caregiving (PIC) is a nonprofit organization that offers a variety of services in eastern Nebraska including the Respite Resource Center, the Grandparent Resource Center, the Partnerships in Aging Network, and Powerful Tools for Caregivers.

PIC has recently been accepted into Baker’s Supermarkets’ Community Rewards program, and will now receive credit for every purchase its members make at Baker’s using their registered Plus card.

To enroll in Baker’s Community Rewards program, consumers must set up an online account by registering at www.bakers.com/communityrewards. When enrolling, members will need to use the five-digit NPO 23311, select Partnerships in Caregiving, and then click “enroll.”

For more information on setting up an online account, please call Baker’s at 800-576-4377, option 3.

Eclectic Book Review Club

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he 65-year-old Eclectic Book Review Club’s 2015 spring season concludes on May 19. The monthly meetings – which are held at the Omaha Field Club, 3615 Woolworth Ave. – include a noon lunch followed by the book review at 12:30 p.m.

The cost is $13 per person.

Here’s the remaining schedule: • May 19: University of Nebraska-Lincoln English professor Timothy Schaffert will review his book, The Swan Gondola.

For reservations, which are due by the Monday prior to the Tuesday reviews, or more information, please call Rita at 402-553-3147.

Call 402-552-7210 for information

EngAge Wellness programs are set for third Tuesday of each month The University of Nebraska Medical Center’s EngAge Wellness program and The Art of Aging are co-sponsoring a series of free programs the third Tuesday of each month through November. The 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. presentations will be held at the Home Instead Center for Successful Aging, 38th Avenue and Leavenworth Street.

Here’s the schedule: • May 19: Driving: When to Give Up the Keys with William Roccaforte, M.D., from UNMC’s Department of Psychiatry.

• June 16: The Grace & Value of End of Life Planning with Julie Masters, Ph.D., from the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Department of Gerontology.

• July 21: Memory Changes: What’s Normal and What’s Not with Barb Bayer, APRN, from UNMC. • Aug. 18: Swallowed by A Snake — Everyone Grieves with Joy Johnson, founder of the Centering Corporation and Ted E. Bear Hollow.

• Sept. 15: Age to Age: When Do We Need a Geriatrician? With Elizabeth Harlow, M.D., from UNMC. • Oct. 20: On the Move! Successfully Getting from One Home to Another with Mike Fujan of True North.

• Nov. 17: Home for the Holidays: A Recipe for Peace with Diane Hendricks from UNMC. To register or for more information, please call 402-5527210 or log on the Internet to www.artofaginginc.com. ack

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May 2015

April 7 was Aurora Bryant Day

LaVista mayor honors Foster Grandparent

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aVista Mayor Douglas Kindig settled comfortably into a rocking chair. A smiling Aurora Bryant took a seat to Kindig’s right.

A group of Kindergarten students at LaVista West Elementary School – seated on a colorful rug – faced the mayor and Bryant, better known to the youngsters as “Grandma.”

“What an honor it is for me to be here to thank Aurora for all her help,” Kindig told the children.

Tuesday, April 7 was the third annual Mayors Day of Recognition for National Service across the United States. That day, Kindig visited LaVista West Elemen-

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Bryant with Maya Nicolas, a Kindergarten student at LaVista West Elementary School. tary School to honor Bryant.

Bryant has volunteered with the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging’s Foster Grandparent Program for 11

Foster Grandparent Aurora Bryant and LaVista Mayor Douglas Kindig.

years.

A Corporation for National and Community Service program, the Foster Grandparent Program matches older volunteers with children needing extra attention at schools, hospitals, mental health facilities, Head Start programs, and domestic abuse shelters.

In honor of the longtime volunteer, Mayor Kindig proclaimed April 7 as Aurora Bryant Day in LaVista.

In addition to LaVista West, Bryant has also volunteered at Carriage Hill Elementary School, G. Stanley Hall Elementary School, Tara Heights Elementary School, and Midlands Hospital’s Residential Treatment Center.

The Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging also sponsors two other Corporation for National and Community Service programs: The Senior Companion Program and the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program.

For more information on any of ENOA’s volunteer programs, please call 402444-6536, ext. 246.

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panions work to keep older adults living independently.

Ombudsman advocates work to ensure residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities enjoy the best possible quality of life.

Ombudsman advocates, who must be age 18 or older, are enrolled through an application and screening process. These volunteers, who are not compensated monetarily for their time, must serve at least two hours a week.

The Senior Medicare Patrol program helps Medicaid beneficiaries avoid, detect, and prevent health care fraud. These volunteers, who are enrolled through an application and screening process, are not compensated monetarily for their time, For more information, please call 402444-6536.

May 2015

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Foster Grandparents and Senior Companions must be age 55 or older, meet income guidelines, have a government issued identification card or a driver’s license, able to volunteer at least 15 hours a week, and must complete several background and reference checks.

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Page 15

Melodrama scheduled for May 7 to 9

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he Florentine Players will present the meolodrama, No Name City or Florence the Finest Seat in the County on May 7 through 9 at the Florence City Hall Building, 2864 State St. The doors open each

night at 6:30 and the show begins at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $10 or $8 for seniors and groups of eight or more.

For reservations or more information, please call Diane Lemen at 402-6774604.

Call 402-398-9568 for details

AARP offering computer classes at Kids Can Community Center AARP is offering classes in basic computer skills this spring at the Kids Can Community Center, 4860 Q St. The classes are available to anyone age 50 or older regardless of AARP membership.

The three-session courses – which are held on a consecutive Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 1 to 4 p.m. – will focus on basic computer skills development with an emphasis on word processing, searching the Internet, and email usage.

A special session on an introduction to tablet computing and another on how to work with digital photography are also being offered.

For a class schedule, log on the Internet to www.kidscanomaha.org/community.

To register or for more information, please call the AARP Information Center at 402-398-9568.

AARP Chapter 2269 is meeting at Olive Crest Methodist Church The Florence AARP Chapter 2269 meets each month at the Olive Crest Methodist Church, 7180 N. 60th St. (one mile north of Sorensen Parkway.) The meetings begin at noon with a lunch that costs $7 per person each month.

Here’s the schedule of programs for the rest of 2015: • May 18: Music by The Links.

• June 15: Presentation on their visit to Cuba by Roger and Liz Rea. • July 20: Presentation on her time in the Ukraine by Elizabeth Meyers.

• Aug. 17: Picnic.

• Sept. 21: Compassion in Action with Teela Mickles.

• Oct. 19: Immigration turmoil with Joann Feller.

• Nov. 16: DJ music and karaoke with Jonathan Kellerk.

• Dec. 14: Christmas music program.

For more information, please contact Ruth Kruse at ruthkruse@cox.net.

May 2015 events calendar 1 Ballet Nebraska Momentum Joslyn Art Museum 7:30 p.m. $19 to $70 402-345-0606 Hairball Arena Rock Live Ralston Arena 8 p.m. $20 to $25 402-934-9966 Toast Nebraska Wine Festival Also May 2 Eugene Mahoney State Park 1 to 10 p.m. $25 to $65 402-730-1765 2 Rockbrook Village Spring Fever Craft Show 10 a.m.

FREE 402-390-0890 Omaha Symphony The Music of Queen Holland Performing Arts Center 7:30 p.m.

402-345-0606 The Renaissance Festival of Nebraska Through May 10 Bellevue Berry Farm 11001 S 48th St. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. $7 and $12 402-331-5500 7 Our Town Through June 7 Blue Barn Theatre Thursday – Saturday @ 7:30 p.m.

Sunday @ 6 p.m. $25 and $30 402-345-1576 Terence Blanchard: Jazz Trumpet Concert Holland Performing Arts Center 7:30 p.m.

402-345-0606 8 Masterworks Concert: Handel’s Messiah Grace University 840 Pine St. $5 402-449-2800

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10 Omaha Symphony Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Witherspoon Concert Hall @ Joslyn Art Museum 2 p.m. $36 402-345-0606 12 Once Through May 17 Orpheum Theater $28 and up 402-345-0606 23 Blacksmithing Workshop With Elmo Diaz Omaha Creative Institute 3031 Upland Parkway $65 651-373-6662 Omaha Symphony Casablanca Holland Performing Arts Center 7:30 p.m. $22 and up 402-345-0606 Fairytale Land Through August 9 Omaha Children’s Museum $8 and $9 402-342-6164 LEGO Travel Adventure Through September 6 Omaha Children’s Museum $8 and $9 402-342-6164 Lost Egypt: Ancient Secrets, Modern Science Through September 6 Durham Museum $7 and $9 402-444-5071 29 Taste of Omaha Through May 31 Omaha Riverfront FREE 402-346-8003 30 Omaha Symphony Bernadette Peters Also May 31 Holland Performing Arts Center Saturday @ 7:30 p.m.

Sunday @ 2 p.m. $22 and up 402-345-0606

Nonagenarian magician Walt Graham still delighting audiences

Omaha magician Walt Graham, age 92, said he enjoys the thrill of doing a trick and watching the audience’s reaction.

By Jeff Reinhardt New Horizons Editor

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he magician, known as the “Humorous Trixter,” began his recent show at Shalimar Gardens Assisted Living in Fremont by telling a joke.

“I’m a senior citizen. My Social Security number is 3. Moses’ Social Security number was 2.”

Once the laughter stopped, the silver-haired gentleman continued a 45-minute performance that included card tricks, predicting correctly

Walt Graham holds up the Omaha Magical Society’s 2015 Top Hat Award.

what word a Shalimar Gardens resident would select from a dictionary, and a series of illusions featuring rope and a pair of scissors.

While the tricks themselves were amazing, what may be even more incredible is that 92-year-old Walt Graham performed the magic.

Nearly three decades beyond the traditional retirement age, Graham does more than 40 magic shows each year at retirement communities, birthday parties, and family reunions.

“I still enjoy the thrill of doing a trick and seeing the reaction of the audience,” he said.

Graham, who attended Columbian Elementary, Technical High School, and Omaha University, became interested in magic at age 12.

He smiled when recalling seeing Harry Blackstone in 1938 at the Orpheum Theater. Despite the 30 cents admission price, Walt watched four shows; each from a different vantage point so be could observe the legendary magician.

“I remember every trick he did,” he said. “I was so impressed by his command of the audience.”

During one illusion, “The Great Blackstone” borrowed Graham’s watch – which after disappearing from Harry’s hand – returned to the stage later inside a loaf of Peter Pan bread.

Walt’s first paying gig – which earned him $1 – came at age 16 when he cut and restored some

Graham, who does more than 40 shows a year, during a recent performance at Shalimar Gardens in Fremont. rope, multiplied the number of colorful wooden balls in his hands, and performed the Siberian chain escape for a family in Council Bluffs.

In 1942, Graham joined the Navy, and during the next three years, performed hundreds of shows at bases in Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota.

After his military discharge, Walt graduated from Omaha University with a degree in journalism and economics in 1947.

A year later, he opened Modern Litho, a printing company he sold in 1989. Walt also taught pasteup techniques at workshops in the United States and Europe for 19 years and sold graphic arts supplies.

Three editions of his book, The Complete Guide to Pasteup, were published. The popular trade publication was translated into Japanese.

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raham – whose wife of 57 years – Lolly, died in 2003, has two daughters, three grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

He defined magic as “deception by creating something that deceives the mind and the eye.”

Walt’s first “magical mentor” was Omaha’s Howard Huntington. A poster featuring Huntington sits on a wall in Graham’s basement near a huge collection of books on magic Walt keeps for the Omaha Magical Society.

That organization, which he joined in 1939, honored Graham

May 2015

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earlier this year with its Top Hat Award.

In 1951, Graham and fellow Omaha Magical Society member Johnny Carson performed magic at dozens of shows in the Omaha area. A playbill in Graham’s home advertises a WOW Radio-sponsored event featuring Graham, Carson, and singing cowboy Slim Everhart.

Walt said he was surprised when Carson told him he was going to California to follow his show business dreams.

“I asked him why he would leave,” Graham recalled with a chuckle. “We were making $35 a show.”

The rest is history.

raham is proud of his career as a magician.

He’s entertained scores of people of all ages and in 1982 the Society of American Magicians named him its “Magician of the Year.”

Performing a few of the same tricks for more than 70 years has made Walt a better magician today than ever before in some ways.

“I’ve learned a lot of nuisances and become pretty skilled,” he said.

Graham continues to buy and learn new tricks that keep his hands nimble and his mind sharp.

To learn more about booking Walt Graham for a magic show, please send an email to him at magigraham@aol.com.

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One set of coupons per household

Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program coupons available at ENOA senior centers

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single-person household and less than $29,471 for a twoperson household. Only one set of coupons will be allowed per household.

The coupons are expected to be available for distribution in early June. More information should be available through your ENOA senior center at the end of May. For a complete list of ENOA senior centers, please visit our website at enoa.org.

For more information, see the June New Horizons.

uring June 2015, the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging will again be offering coupons that can be exchanged for fresh produce through the Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program.

Recipients must be 60 years of age or older and have an annual income of less than $21,775 for a

Omaha Computers Users Group

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ou’re invited to join the Omaha Computer Users Group (OCUG), an organization dedicated to helping men and women age 50 and older learn more about their computers.

Anyone can join OCUG regardless of his or her computer skills.

The organization’s 50 members meet the third Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to noon at the Abrahams Library, 5111 N.

90th St. Annual dues to OCUG, which has existed for 15 years, are $25.

O

CUG has a projector connected to a Microsoft Windows 7 computer and a Windows 8 computer to show users how to solve their computer problems. Bring your questions concerning your computer problems to the meetings for answers.

For more information, please call OCUG’s president Phill Sherbon at 402333-6529.

Use containers to add beauty, fragrance for plants, herbs when space is limited

By Melinda Myers

B

righten up your patio, deck, or front entrance with containers. They’re an excellent way to add color, fragrance, and beauty where plantable space is limited or non existent.

Set a few containers on the front or back steps, in the corner of your deck, or other locations where they can be enjoyed. Try stacking and planting several containers to create a display with greater vertical interest. Check the views when looking from inside the house out as well as when enjoying the space outdoors. Strategically place containers for the greatest viewing pleasure.

Save even more space by using railing planters. You can dress up the porch or deck by filling these planters with colorful flowers and edibles.

Make sure they are sturdy and easy to install. Reduce time spent installing and maintaining with easyto-install self-watering rail planters, Don’t limit yourself to flowers. Mix in a few edibles and bring some homegrown flavor to your outdoor entertaining. You and your guests will enjoy plucking a few mint leaves to flavor beverages, basil to top a slice of pizza, or a sprig of dill to top grilled fish.

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erbs not only add flavor to your meals, but texture and fragrance to container gardens. And the many new dwarf vegetable varieties are suited to containers. Their small size makes them easy to include and many have colorful fruit that is not only pretty, but also delicious.

Add a few edible flowers like nasturtium and pansies.

Dress up a plate of greens with edible flowers for a gourmet touch. Or freeze a few pansy flowers in ice cubes and add them to a glass of lemonade or sparkling water.

Include flowers like globe amaranth (Gomphrena), Lisianthus, and daisies that are great for cutting. You’ll enjoy your garden inside and out throughout the season.

And don’t forget to plant some flowers for the butterflies to enjoy. Zinnias, cosmos, and marigolds are just a few that are sure to brighten any space, while attracting butterflies to your landscape. Salvia, penstemon, and flowering tobacco will help bring hummingbirds in close so you’ll have a better view.

So make this the year you select a container or two that best fits your space and gardening style. Fill it with a well-drained potting mix and combination of beautiful ornamental and edible plants to enjoy all season long. The additions are sure to enhance your landscape and keep your guests coming back for more.

(Myers is a gardening expert, TV/radio host, author, and columnist.)

Fire Department can install free smoke, carbon monoxide detectors

T

he Omaha Fire Department’s Public Education and Affairs Department is available to install free smoke and/or carbon monoxide detectors inside the residences of area home-

owners.

To have a free smoke and/or carbon monoxide detector installed inside your home, send your name, address, and telephone number to: Omaha Fire Department Smoke/Carbon Monoxide Requests 10245 Weisman Dr. Omaha, NE 68134 For more information, please call 402-444-3560.

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Have a safety checklist ready during severe weather season

Bone health programs

ith severe weather season upon us in the United States, older adults may be among the most vulnerable victims when disasters strike. That’s why Home Instead Senior Care, the international caregiving company with more than 800 locations in 15 countries, has issued a disaster safety preparation checklist to help prepare older men and women for the possibility of natural disasters.

• Tune in. Contact the local emergency management office to learn about the most likely natural disasters to strike your area. Stay abreast of what’s going on through your local radio or television.

• Take stock. Decide what you or your older loved one can or can’t do in the event of a natural disaster. Make a list of what would be needed if a disaster occurred. For example, if your loved one is wheelchair-bound, determine an evacuation strategy ahead of time. Prepare for whatever disaster could hit the area.

• To go or to stay? When deciding to evacuate, older adults should go sooner rather than later. By waiting too long, they may be unable to leave if they require assistance.

• Make a plan. Schedule a family meeting to develop a plan of action. Include in your plan key people – such as neighbors, friends, relatives, and professional caregivers – who could help.

• Have more than one way out. Older adults should develop at least two escape routes: one to evacuate their home and one to evacuate their community. The local emergency management office can tell you escape routes out of the community.

• Meet up. Designate a place to meet relatives or key support network people outside the house, as well as a second location outside the neighborhood such as a school or church. Practice the plan twice a year.

• Get up and go kit. Have an easy-to-carry backpack including three days non-perishable food and water with an additional four days of food and water readily accessible at home. Have at least one gallon of bottled water per person per day. Refresh and replace your supplies at least twice a year. Don’t forget the blanket and paper products such as toilet paper.

• Pack extras and copies. Have at least a one-month supply of medication on hand at all times. Make ready other important documents in a waterproof protector including copies of prescriptions, car title registration, and driver’s license, insurance documents, bank account numbers, and a spare checkbook. Also take extra eyeglasses and hearing-aid batteries. Label every piece of important equipment or personal item in case they are lost.

• Your contact list. Compile a contact list and include people on an older adult’s support network as well as doctors and other important healthcare professionals.

• If you can’t be there. If you’re not living close by to help your older loved one, enlist the help of family or friends, or contact a professional caregiving company.

The National Osteoporosis Foundation’s Bone Health Group has two free meetings scheduled for this spring in Omaha.

• Wednesday, May 13: All About Knees with Dr. Terry Grindstaff. The 1 to 2:30 p.m. meeting will be held in Room 5766 in the Creighton University Medical Building, 601 N. 30th St. • Wednesday, June 10: Tai Chi Class with Bev Vazzano. The 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. session will be held in the Becic Dining Room in the Creighton University Medical Building, 601 N. 30th St. To RSVP or for more information, please call Susan Recker at 402-280-4810 or srecker@creighton.edu.

W

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• No Entrance Fee • Medicaid Waiver Approved • All Utilities & Housekeeping Included • Spacious 1 & 2 Bedroom Apartments

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Please call 402-444-4148 or 402- 444-6654 to place your ad

POOL TABLES Moving, refelting, assemble, repair, tear down. Used slate tables.

We pay CASH for slate pool tables.

Big Red Billiards 402-598-5225

TOP CASH PAID Best & honest prices paid for: Nice old vintage and costume jewelry, old watches, vintage toys, Fenton glassware, old postcards, advertising items, military items, pottery, and antique buttons.

Also buying estates & partial estates.

Call Bev at 402-339-2856

Chaplain Royal Non-denominational minister for funerals, weddings, and baptisms.

402-575-7006 InclusiveLife.org

Tree Trimming Beat the bursting buds!

www.lightthebridge.org 100% non-profit addressing hunger VOTES TO DATE • For: 2,501 • Against: 90 • Please vote today to address hunger.

REPUTABLE SERVICES, INC. • Remodeling & Home Improvement

93rd & Maple • 402-397-6921

HOUSE CLEANING

Need help indoors or outdoors?

Call today REFRESH CLEANING SERVICES JUDY: 402-885-8731

OLD STUFF WANTED (before 1975)

Chipping & removal.

Your prunings chipped.

Experienced & insured.

Senior discount.

402-894-9206

Military, political, toys, jewelry, fountain pens, pottery, kitchen ware, postcards, photos, books, and other old paper, old clothes, garden stuff, tools, old household, etc.

Call anytime 402-397-0254 or 402-250-9389

GET RID OF IT!

Looking for an old friend

VOTES WANTED PLEASE GO TO

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Some of the nicest, newer 1 bedroom apartments. Elevator, w & d, heated parking garage. Small complex. By bus & shopping. No pets or smoking.

Haul away, garage, basement, rental clean out…

Johansen Brothers Call Frank

402-312-4000

William Bennett is searching for Windsor School classmate Joan Huntzinger Persons with information are asked to call Bennett at 402-426-3753

Senior Citizens (62+) Accepting applications for HUD-subsidized apartments in Papillion & Bellevue. Rent determined by income and medical expenses.

• Safety Equipment Handrails Smoke and Fire Alarms • Painting Interior & Exterior

Monarch Villa West 201 Cedar Dale Road Papillion (402) 331-6882

• Handyman Services • Senior Discounts

Bellewood Courts 1002 Bellewood Court Bellevue (402) 292-3300

• Free Estimates • References • Fully Insured

Managed by Kimball Management., Inc.

Quality Professional Service Better Business Bureau Member

We do business in accordance with the Fair Housing Law.

402-4 5 5-7 0 0 0

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Downtown Omaha filled with color as 5k raises money for ENOA University campus, the walkers – many pushing baby strollers – runners, and dancers slowed down long enough to grab a cup of water. It was hard to tell who was having more fun, the participants or the volunteers who filled the cups and shouted encouragement.

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t the finish line of this non-competitive race, many of the invaders smiled as they tried to decide whose clothes, hair, and skin had been splattered

with the most color.

“On behalf of the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging.

I’d like to thank the 2,120 individuals that participated in the Color Vibe,” said Dennis Loose, ENOA’s executive director.

“I also want to thank the volunteers – many of whom were from the ENOA staff and two of their family members – volunteer photographer Mark Kresl from Midwest Geriatrics, the Omaha Police Department, and Hy-Vee who donated the water and cups.”

Photo by Mark Kresl/Midwest Geriatrics

Cannons blew a variety of vibrantly colored cornstarch on the participants at the start of the Omaha Color Vibe 5k last month in downtown Omaha.

O

n an overcast Saturday morning in April, downtown Omaha was temporarily invaded by a colorful collection of men, women, boys, and girls.

A few raindrops fell from the sky as the first of the invaders gathered around 6:30 a.m. in a parking lot between TD Ameritrade Park and the CenturyLink Center Omaha. Most wore a white t-shirt. Many were dressed in a tutu.

At 8 a.m., the first group of 500 started to run, walk,

and dance its way parallel to the Missouri River.

Within seconds, using color cannons, volunteers began blowing a rainbow of vibrant, colorful cornstarch on the clothes, hair, and skin of the participants.

During the next 90-plus minutes, the pack moved through more color stations where volunteers threw and blew additional blue, green, orange, and pink cornstarch at the invaders.

While the scene may have looked like something from a science fiction movie, at

no time was the public in danger. In fact, an Omaha Police Department motorcycle escort led the procession of runners, walkers, and dancers.

The invaders and volunteers were actually taking part in the Color Vibe Omaha, a 5k run to raise money for the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging.

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t the halfway mark near the Father Michael G. Morrison Stadium on the Creighton

Photo by Mark Kresl/Midwest Geriatrics

Volunteers from ENOA passed out water to the Color Vibe participants at the 5k’s halfway point.

Partnerships in Caregiving What is the value of an hour away to take a nap, meet with a friend, or attend a church service? For the four out of 10 adults in the United States caring for a child or adult with significant health issues, that hour can be priceless.

As more adults provide informal care in their homes to family members, the issue of respite becomes increasingly urgent.

According to the National Respite Coalition, a respite program “provides a coordinated system of accessible, community-based respite care services for family caregivers of children and adults with special needs.” Respite, or a short-term break, could be anything from a few hours to a week or two away from caregiving duties.

Caregivers tending to loved ones often struggle with fatigue, depression, and health issues of their own, stemming from decreased time and energy to take care of themselves. Many have jobs outside the home and have to rearrange their work schedules, take unpaid leave, or even quit their jobs as care demands increase.

Partnerships in Caregiving, an Omaha-based nonprofit organization, connects caregivers with respite care providers who provide respite breaks to caregivers and their families across the lifespan, allowing caregivers to rest, recharge, and remember there is life beyond caregiving.

Just as plane passengers are reminded to put on their own oxygen masks before attempting to help others, respite programs remind caregivers to tend to their needs for time away so they’re able to effectively care for their loved ones.

For more information on respite opportunities in your area, please visit www.piaging.com or call 402-996-8444.

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