A publication of the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging
November 2017 VOL. 42 • NO. 11
ENOA 4780 South 131st Street Omaha, NE 68137-1822
PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID OMAHA NE PERMIT NO. 389
New Horizons ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
Courtesy of Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture
A rendering of the Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture design of the Dodge Street side of Omaha’s Dundee Theater which is undergoing renovations. Opened in 1925 at 4952 Dodge St., the Dundee – closed in 2013 – is scheduled to welcome audiences again later this year. Leo Adam Biga takes a look at the theater, its history, and its future beginning on page 10.
Recognition The Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging recently received the Distinguished Community Service Award from the New Cassel Foundation. Page 3.
Fitness Three mornings each week, Kim Murphy leads a group of older adults in an Aquacize class at the Kroc Center. Learn more about the south Omaha facility. Page 20.
Omaha World Adventurers
Call 402-554-5961
Omaha World Adventurers (OWA) will present filmmakers Clint and Sue Denn’s Holland, Belgium, and a Christmas Cruise on Thursday, Nov. 9 at the Westwood 8 Cinemas, 2809 S. 125th Ave. Show times are 2 and 7 p.m. Tickets are available for $10 (cash or check) at the door. New Horizons readers can get a $2 discount on tickets by bringing in the OWA ad on page 15. World travelers have praised the Netherlands and Belgium for their spectacular spring beauty. The Dutch countryside with its windmills and canals is home to lush green dairy farms and delicious local cheeses. A poignant part of Dutch history includes Arnhem’s numerous World War II battle sites, as well as the Airborne Museum which details the Battle of Arnhem Bridge. The famous tulip displays at the 70-acre Keukenhof Gardens are a delightful palate of every color imaginable. In Belgium, the film visits the capital city of Brussels; Gent, the nation’s fourth largest city with its Castle of Counts; and Brugges, one of Europe’s most perfectly preserved medieval cities and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Antwerp, known for its superb architecture, is home to the studio of artist Peter Paul Rubens. The city’s Cathedral features two of his 17th Century works. The Christmas season portion of the film displays the magic of four exciting countries. Starting in the Czech Republic, the cruise travels across the Continental Divide on the Main-Danube Canal to Nuremberg and Regensburg in Germany, then on to Salzburg, Linz, Melk Abbey, and Vienna, Austria before concluding in Budapest, Hungary. Viewers will visit Christmas markets where shopping for handcrafted gifts is always a must. Sampling local traditional holiday foods and drinks, as well as festive local entertainment is part of the festive season and makes for a memorable trip For more information on Holland, Belgium, and a Christmas Cruise, please all RJ Enterprises at 866-385-3824.
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Volunteers needed for UNO study on cognition, emotion
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he University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Department of Gerontology is looking for healthy younger and older adults and for caregivers of patients with dementia to participate in a research study about cognition and emotion. Study participants – who may be compensated – are asked to make a one-time, two-hour visit to a laboratory on UNO’s Dodge Street campus. The experiment involves paper and pencil questionnaires and computer tasks. Free parking will be located a short walk from the building where the experiment will take place.
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articipants must be age 19 to 35 or 55 to 90, able to comprehend written and spoken English, have transportation to the UNO campus, and must have completed a minimum of two or more years of high school. Persons interested in joining the study may not have received a diagnosis of neurological or psychiatric disease (e.g., stroke, depression), have vision, hearing, or motor difficulties, or are pregnant. For more information, please contact Janelle Beadle, Ph.D. at UNO’s Aging Brain Lab. Her contact information is 402554-5961 or ABELabUNO@gmail.com. Ask about Study IRB: 842-15-EP.
November 2017
Senior Companions, Foster Grandaprents needed Men and women age 55 and older who want to earn a tax-free stipend while making an impact in their community are encouraged to join the Senior Companion Program and the Foster Grandparent Program. Sponsored locally by the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging, the SCP and FGP are national programs of the Corporation for National and Community Service through the Senior Service Corps. Senior Companions help other older adults maintain their independence by visiting them at home to discuss the news, read mail, play cards, run errands, etc. Foster Grandparents serve as positive role models for children who need special attention with education, healthcare, and social development in schools, Head Start programs, and child development centers. SCP and FGP volunteers must meet income guidelines and complete an enrollment process that includes references and background checks. In exchange for volunteering 15 hours or more per week, Foster Grandparents and Senior Companions receive a $2.65 an hour tax-free stipend, mileage reimbursement, an annual physical examination, supplemental accident insurance coverage, and other benefits including an annual recognition luncheon. The stipend does not interfere with rent, disability, Medicaid, or other benefits. For more information, call 402-444-6536.
Presented at Spirit of St. Francis Dinner
New Cassel Foundation honors ENOA for its distinguished community service
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he New Cassel Foundation presented its Distinguished Community Service Award recently to the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging at the annual Spirit of St. Francis Dinner held at the Scott Conference Center on the University of Nebraska at Omaha campus. The award recognizes ENOA for being an advocate for older adults in eastern Nebraska since 1974. “I’m very proud to accept this honor on behalf of the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging staff and the men and women we serve in Douglas, Sarpy, Dodge, Cass, and Washington counties,” said ENOA’s Executive Director Dennis Loose. That evening, Father Jim Tiegs received the Spirit of St. Francis Award for embodying the true spirit of St. Francis of Assisi through his lifetime of gracious giving and selfless commitment to older adults. Martin Bros. earned the Lempka Leadership Award for its outstanding voluntary leadership and spirit of giving to New Cassel’s mission and ministry. The Spirit of St. Francis dinner is a benefit to help
create a place to age with grace at the New Cassel Retirement Center and the Franciscan Adult Day Centre, 900 N. 90th St.
ENOA Executive Director Dennis Loose accepted the New Cassel Foundation’s Distinguished Community Service Award at the Spirit of St. Francis Dinner last month. With Loose are (left): Julie Sebastian, president and CEO of New Cassel and Cindy Petrich, president of the New Cassel Foundation.
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, 4780 S. 131st Street, Omaha, NE 68137-1822. 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; Lisa Kramer, Washington County, vice-chairperson; Janet McCartney, Cass County, secretary; David Saalfed, Dodge County, & Brian Zuger, Sarpy 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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November is the perfect time to thank the nation’s caregivers
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ovember is National Family Caregivers Month. This is a great time to honor and support the 65 million Americans who provide unpaid care for older adults and loved ones who have a disability. Caregivers – who are vital to our nation’s direct healthcare system – often put their own physical, emotional, and financial well-being at risk. They may neglect their own health and wellness routine, cut back on their work hours, or leave their job entirely. They’re also at higher risk of depression and other stress-related conditions. Often family caregivers feel isolated and have limited time to take care of themselves. Arranging for in-home services may be the best way to lighten the caregiver’s workload and stress level while providing peace of mind for the family. Respite care providers – who can offer short-term breaks from caregiving – are available through organizations across the state like the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging’s Caregiver Support Program at 402-444-6536.
It’s important to let caregivers know how much we appreciate them. Listen to what they say. Provide a safe place to share their concerns, joys, and frustrations. In doing so, you’ll be in a better position to learn more about the support services that might help relieve some of their stress. Offer to help them whenever possible, even if it’s just running errands or helping with house chores. One way to guide caregivers to support services is to have them contact Respite Across the Lifespan, a member of the Nebraska Respite Network. Each office has a coordinator to help families identify respite resources and match families with respite providers. These individuals can come into the home and give caregivers a chance to refresh and rejuvenate. A respite can allow caregivers a chance see a movie, go to the grocery store, have lunch with a friend, or take a nap. These respite providers are fully screened by the Respite Network coordinators. For more information, contact Ellen Bennett at 402-5595732 or edbennett@unmc.edu.
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Eclectic Book Review season ends Nov. 21 The Eclectic Book Review Club’s 68th season concludes this month with: • Nov. 21: Jeff Kurrus, editor of NEBRASKAland Magazine, will share the story of The Tale of Jacob Swift. The monthly meetings, which include lunch and a book review, are held at noon at the Field Club, 3615 Woolworth Ave. The cost is $13 per person per month. To reserve a seat, call Rita at (402) 553-3147. The reservation deadline is the Monday morning prior to the Tuesday meeting.
Notre Dame Housing You’re invited to visit Notre Dame Housing, 3439 State St. for the following: • Monday & Wednesday: Tai Chi class @ 4 p.m. North entrance. No class on Wednesday, Nov. 22. • Second & fourth Tuesday: Get banking help as an American National Bank representative visits at 10 a.m. North entrance. • Second & third Friday: Saving Grace @ 1:30 p.m. East entrance. • Third Thursday: Center for Holistic Development provides one-on-one counseling from 3 to 5 p.m. By appointment only. East entrance. • Third Wednesday: Food pantry from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. East entrance. Bring a current photo I.D. such as a driver’s license or a state issued ID, and proof of residency such as a utility bill or a piece of mail no more than 30 days old. Bills or mail must be in the name of the client who’s seeking the assistance. Individuals will only be allowed to pick up items for their own household. • Tuesday, Nov. 29: November birthday party @ 1:30 p.m. with music by Michael Gurciullo from the Merrymakers. Notre Dame Housing will be closed Nov. 10 for Veterans Day and Nov. 23 and 24 for Thanksgiving. Notre Dame Housing is open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Lunch is served at noon. A $3.50 contribution is suggested for the meal. Reservations are due by 11 a.m. the business day prior to the lunch you wish to attend. For meal reservations and more information, please call Brenda at 402-4514477, ext. 126.
Hearing loss group The Omaha Area Hearing Loss Association of America, a support group for hard of hearing adults, will meet on Nov. 14 at Dundee Presbyterian Church, 5312 Underwood Ave. Participants are asked to enter the church on the Happy Hollow Boulevard (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. You’re encouraged to like the Omaha Area Hearing Loss Association of America on Facebook. For more information, please contact Beth Ellsworth at ellsworth.beth@ cox.net or Verla Hamilton at 402-558-6449.
Camelot Friendship Center
Cost is $10 for adults
Czech-Mex dinner set for Nov. 5 at Assumption-Guadalupe Church
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ou’re invited to attend the annual Czech-Mex dinner on Sunday, Nov. 5 inside the gymnasium at Assumption-Guadalupe Catholic Church, 22nd and U streets. The 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. dinner includes Czech goulash with mashed potatoes or beef enchiladas with refried beans and rice, or a combination of both. In addition, the meals feature salad, corn, a beverage, and dessert. The festivities will also include homemade kolaches, a bake sale, a quilt raffle, and a homemaker’s booth. The cost is $10 for adults, $5 for children ages 4 to 12, and $2 for children ages 3 and younger. For more information, please call 402-731-2196 or 402-292-2528.
You’re invited to visit the Camelot Friendship Center inside the Camelot Community Center, 9270 Cady Ave., for the following: • Nov. 9: Book Club @ 10:15 a.m. • Nov. 16: Jackpot bingo @ 12:15 p.m. • Nov. 20: Chair volleyball @ 10:30 a.m. The center will be closed on Friday, Nov. 10 for Veterans Day and on Thursday, Nov. 23 and Friday, Nov. 24 for Thanksgiving. Other activities include Tai Chi (Friday @ 10:15 a.m.), 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 contribution 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 402444-3091.
Elder Access Line
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egal 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.
Florence AARP Chapter 2269 AARP’s Florence Chapter 2269 meets monthly at Mount View Presbyterian Church, 5308 Hartman Ave. The meetings feature a noon lunch for $8 followed by a program at 12:45 p.m. The meetings are open to both AARP members and non-members. Transportation is available by calling Ruth Kruse at 402-453-4825 or Marge Willard at 402-455-8401. • November 20 Omaha historian Lowen Kruse Omaha Blossoms • December 12 Christmas music
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Physician: Why are medical costs so high?
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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 Branson Christmas. November 6 - 9. $739. Enjoy Daniel O’Donnell at the Welk Theater, Pierce Arrow, The Brett Family, Neal McCoy, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons hits in “New Jersey Nights”, and either “The Miracle of Christmas” at the Sight and Sound Theater or the SIX Show, and Grand Village shopping. Kansas City Christmas. December 13 – 14. $399. Come along with us to Kansas City and enjoy some Christmas spirit including “Funny Money” at the New Theater Restaurant, National Toy and Miniatures Museum, holiday luncheon at the Webster House, and “Holly Jolly Homicide”, a Christmas-themed murder mystery comedy dinner. Black Hills “Ski for Light”. January 20 – 26, 2018. Fourth annual trip to Deadwood, South Dakota. A very rewarding week-long event for blind and physically challenged persons to participate in skiing and/or other outdoor activities. If you know of someone who might want to participate, call us. Volunteers are also needed to provide various types of assistance at the event. Financial assistance also needed to make this event more affordable for participants. Motor coach will pick up at various points across Nebraska. Contact us at 712-366-9596 for more details. Morel Mushrooms and Wind (with a side of Mustard and Matchsticks). May 17 - 20. (Call for pricing). Come along to a Morel Mushroom Festival and enjoy fried morels and mushroom brats, tour a wind generator farm to find out how those huge wind turbines work, tour the National Mustard Museum (some call it the “Condimental Divide”), “marvel” at the detailed scale matchstick models created by an Iowa artist, see the “House on the Rock”, and have lunch in the “Sistine Chapel”. Duluth and the North Shore. June 17 - 23. (Call for pricing). Explore the western edge of Lake Superior (called the “north shore”) from Duluth up to Grand Portage at the Canadian border, with many stops along the way. Enjoy a dinner cruise on Lake Superior, Canal Park, smoked fish shop, Split Rock Lighthouse, Gooseberry Falls, North Shore Commercial Fishing Museum, mountain tram ride, art galleries and shopping, ferry ride to Isle Royale National Park, an optional charter fishing trip, and many more highlights. “Mamma Mia!” at the New Theater. July 28. (Call for pricing). On the eve of her wedding, a daughter’s quest to discover the identity of her father brings three men from her mother’s past to the door of the church. Featuring the #1 hits of the legendary Group ABBA including “Dancing Queen”, “Knowing Me-Knowing You”, “Take a Chance on Me”, and many more. October Colors in Niagara Falls, Boston, and Cape Cod. October 9 - 19. (Call for pricing). Dust off your passport and enjoy the beautiful Fall scenery as we travel across the Midwest through Port Huron to Niagara Falls, the Finger Lakes, Vermont, Salem, Boston, Plymouth, Cape Cod, Pennsylvania, Indiana, with several highlights including a Hornblower Niagara Cruise, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Vermont maple syrup tasting, guided tours of Boston, Plymouth, and Salem, Salem Witch Trial Museum, Plymouth Rock, cranberry bog tour, Mayflower, sand dunes tour, vineyard tour and wine tasting featuring “ice wine”, Strawberry Fields experience, and Hershey’s Chocolate Tour.
By Chris Gilbert, M.D. & Ph.D.
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ith all the recent debate on who should pay for health insurance – the government or individuals – a very important question has been pushed far into the background: “Why are medical costs so high in the first place, and how do we make them lower for whomever pays for them?” As a physician with over 30 years of experience treating patients in China, Africa, France, Sri Lanka, and California, I say the answer to the question of why medical costs in the U.S. are so high is simple: enormous sums are spent treating the superficial symptoms of disease with expensive tests, medications, and surgical procedures, while very little attention is focused on curing the deep causes of illness in the first place. My strong belief is that we could dramatically lower medical costs while improving the nation’s health by shifting the emphasis from expensive symptomatic treatments, which often offer only temporary relief and produce side effects that require still more money to address, to treating the underlying root causes of disease. Surprisingly, the deep underlying cause of many illnesses, such as joint pain, back pain, stomach problems, cardiovascular disease, and frequent respiratory infections, is not “medical” in the strictest sense, but mental. Three landmark studies reinforce this point of view.
Branson Christmas 2018. Dates and pricing TBD. Kansas City Christmas 2018. Dates and pricing TBD.
Laughlin Laughlin in November. November 11 - 15. $329. Five days – four nights. 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. Entertainment during this trip includes country singer Lee Greenwood at the Riverside Resort and the Laughlin Freedom Festival on the Riverwalk.
In Partnership with Collette Vacations Quoted prices are per person, double occupancy, and do include airfare. More destinations available! Discover Panama. February 22 – March 2, 2018. Details to follow. Canadian Rockies & Glacier National Park. Mid July 2018. Details to follow. Spotlight London Holiday. December 2018. Details to follow. Iceland’s Magical Northern Lights. Early March 2019. Details to follow. Watch New Horizons and our website www.fontenelletours.com for our trip schedule. 11808 Mason Plaza Omaha, NE 68154
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irst, a sweeping study by the Kaiser health system found 80 percent of visits to primary care doctors are triggered by unresolved emotional issues, stress, and behavioral problems such as smoking and overeating. Second, reinforcing the Kaiser study, Harvard research showed bottling up strong emotions such as anger and frustration, shortens life expectancy from all causes including cardiovascular disease and cancer. Yet according to research published in the Archives of Internal medicine, only 3 percent of primary care physicians address emotional problems and stress in their patients, instead prescribing drugs, tests, and even surgeries to treat the superficial symptoms. Taken together these three research findings suggest a simple way to improve health while dramatically lowering the cost of medical treatment would be for primary care physicians to help patients vent pent up feelings that stress people out, making them susceptible to disease. This is exactly the approach I have taken treating patients. After learning about a patient’s symptoms, I immediately start asking questions such as: “What’s going on in your life right now? Are there stressors in your job, family, (and) social life? Issues with kids?” And perhaps most important “What happened in your personal life just before the symptoms showed up?” In most cases, I have found relationship problems or other “psychosocial stressors” immediately preceded the onset of symptoms. So, before I reach for my prescription pad to order expensive meds or tests, I work with my patients to identify strong emotions they may be suppressing, then coach them to express them in a safe environment -- my office. I call this approach to medicine “the listening cure” because its primary focus is to listen to a patient’s ailing body to diagnose, and then reduce emotional problems and stress that trigger so much disease. When I say, “listen to a patient’s body” I mean it literally. I coach patients to “become” an ailing body part, such as a lower back, and to speak in the first person about what they feel, why they are suffering, and what they want to happen to relieve their symptoms. This process not only pinpoints the ultimate trigger for an illness and points the way to an inexpensive, lasting cure, but it is therapeutic all by itself because speaking as a body part automatically releases pent up emotions and stress that cause that body part to suffer in the first place. Although emotional problems and stress are not the root cause of all illness – and I do employ conventional medicine when required – I’ve achieved great success treating many illnesses without any drugs, tests, or surgeries, because I start where disease often begins, in the emotional landscape of my patient’s lives. So, the next time you hear a heated debate about who should pay for rising health care costs, question why those costs should be so high in the first place. (Dr. Gilbert co author of The Listening Cure: Healing Secrets of an Unconventional Doctor.)
VAS is offering assistance
Medicare open enrollment period runs through Dec. 7 Medicare’s annual open enrollment period started Sunday, Oct. 15 and runs through Thursday, Dec. 7. This is the time to review your Medicare Part D coverage or your Medicare Advantage coverage, and if needed, switch to a different plan for 2018. Even if you’re satisfied with your coverage, you should review your options for next year to see if there’s a plan that will better meet your needs in the upcoming year. Research shows people with Medicare prescription drug coverage could lower their costs by comparing plans annually as there could be another plan that would cover the medications they take with fewer restrictions and/or lower prices. Last year, Volunteers Assisting Seniors (VAS) helped more than 1,800 people review their coverage during Medicare’s annual open enrollment period. Individuals who reviewed their coverage options with a VAS certified counselor last year and switched to a less expensive plan averaged a $720 savings in their prescription drug costs for 2017. VAS will schedule appointments at various locations in eastern Nebraska to assist Medicare beneficiaries with Part D and Medicare Advantage plan reviews. See the list below for dates, times, locations, and the number to call to schedule an appointment. Please remember the annual open enrollment period pertains to Part D and Advantage plans only. Medigap supplemental policies aren’t subject to an annual open enrollment period. To schedule your appointment for a plan review, or if you have questions about Medigap policies, please call VAS at 402-444-6617. Wednesday, Nov. 1 VAS 1941 S. 42nd St #312 Center Mall 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. 402-444-6617 Thursday, Nov. 2 Washington County Extension Office 597 Grant St. #200 Blair 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 402-426-9455 Friday, Nov. 3 Metropolitan Community College 829 N. 204th St. 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. 402-444-6617 Friday, Nov. 3 Washington County Extension Office 597 Grant St. #200 Blair 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 402-426-9455 Monday, Nov. 6 Goodwill 4805 N. 72nd St. 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. 402-444-6617 Wednesday, Nov. 8 VAS 1941 S. 42nd St #312 Center Mall 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. 402-444-6617 Thursday, Nov. 9 Eastern Nebraska Veterans Home 12505 S 40th St. Bellevue 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. 402-444-6617
Wednesday, Nov. 15 Metropolitan Community College 835 N. Broad St. Fremont 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 402-444-6617 Wednesday, Nov. 15 Dodge County Extension Office 1206 W. 23rd St. Fremont 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 402-727-2775 Thursday, Nov. 16 VAS 1941 S. 42nd St #312 Center Mall 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. 402-444-6617 Thursday, Nov. 16 Dodge County Extension Office 1206 W. 23rd St. Fremont 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 402-727-2775 Friday, Nov. 17 Metro Comm. College 829 N. 204th St. 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. 402-444-6617 Saturday, Nov. 18 VAS 1941 S. 42nd St #312 Center Mall 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. 402-444-6617
Monday, Nov. 27 Goodwill 4805 N. 72nd St. 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. 402-444-6617 Wednesday, Nov. 29 VAS 1941 S. 42nd St #312 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. 402-444-6617
A new way to treat joint defects
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iologic joint restoration using donor tissue instead of traditional metal and plastic may be an option for active patients with joint defects. Although recovery from a biologic joint repair is typically longer than traditional replacement, successful biologic restoration allows patients to return to full activity. However, in some cases, the transplanted bone does not heal correctly. Researchers at the University of Missouri School of Medicine found in a group of patients treating donor grafts with bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMC) before surgery improves bone integration and speeds recovery. “Surgeons performing biologic joint restoration surgeries typically only wash the donor bone to remove the marrow as a pretreatment before implanting the graft,” said James Cook, D.V.M., Ph.D., O.T.S.C. “Once implanted, the recipient’s bone has to grow into the donor bone for the surgery to be successful. This graft integration involves a long process called ‘creeping substitution’ that can take more than a year to complete. The first six months are the most critical
Thursday, Nov. 30 SUMP Library 222 N. Jefferson St. Papillion 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. 402-444-6617
for success, so we have been studying ways to make this process better and faster.” Cook’s team compared 17 biologic knee joint grafts implanted without BMC to 29 grafts pretreated with BMC. Post-surgical X-ray images at six weeks, three months, and six months were compared for graft integration and healing. The grafts pretreated with BMC achieved 43 percent bone integration at six weeks, compared to 25 percent of those not treated. Likewise, at three months, pretreated grafts achieved 67 percent integration, compared to 50 percent of the untreated grafts. At six months, the researchers observed the pretreated grafts were more than 84 percent fully integrated, compared to 74 percent of untreated grafts. “To pretreat a graft with BMC, the patient’s bone marrow is collected at the start of the procedure,” Cook said. “It is processed in the operating room using a centrifuge to make a powerful concentrate containing the patient’s cells and proteins. The resulting BMC is used to saturate the donor bone before it is implanted into the patient’s joint.” “The use of BMC is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for bone healing therapies,” Cook said. “It has not been used specifically for biologic joint restoration procedures. I believe this is the first clinical study to directly examine the effects of BMC on bone integration for biologic joint restoration surgeries. Our data show donor grafts pretreated with BMC were associated with earlier and better bone integration. This means pretreatment with BMC reduces the risk of bone graft failure and improves the patients’ chances for long term success.” Biologic joint replacement cost varies based on factors such as the extent of repair needed. More extensive repairs can exceed $100,000. BMC cost can exceed $1,000. Most health insurance policies cover the procedure. Although the results are favorable, Cook noted the study has limitations, including the size of the patient sample studied. “Moving forward, we will verify similar results can be obtained in a larger patient population,” Cook said. “We also want to see if the same positive outcomes can be achieved in other joints such as hips, shoulders, and ankles. However, based on the results of our two studies, we now pretreat all our biologic joint restoration grafts with BMC.” (The University of Missouri provided this information.)
Monday, Dec. 4 VAS 1941 S. 42nd St #312 Center Mall 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. 402-444-6617 Wednesday, Dec. 6 VAS 1941 S. 42nd St #312 Center Mall 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. 402-444-6617 Thursday, Dec. 7 VAS 1941 S. 42nd St #312 Center Mall 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. 402-444-6617
Monday, Nov. 20 VAS 1941 S. 42nd St #312 Center Mall 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. 402-444-6617
THEOS will meet at New Cassel
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HEOS, a social organization for singles age 60 and older, meets from 1 to 4 p.m. on the second Monday of each month at New Cassel, 900 N. 90th St. Older men and women are encouraged to meet for a fun afternoon and to sign up for other activities throughout the month. For more information, please call Dorothy at 402-3990759 or Mary at 402-393-3052.
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Corrigan Senior Center You’re invited to visit the Corrigan Senior Center, 3819 X St., this month for: • Nov. 1: Red Skelton Movie Marathon from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. • Nov. 6: Birthday party with music by Michael “Gooch” Gurciullo from the Merrymakers @ 11 a.m. • Nov. 7, 14, 21, & 28: Cooking Matters classes @ 10:30 a.m. sponsored by the VNA. Participants will learn about healthy eating on a budget from a nutritionist and about cooking skills from a professional chef. • Nov. 8: Salute to Veterans by St. Peter & Paul School students @ 1 p.m. • Nov. 13: Veterans Month celebration @ 11 a.m. Presentation on What is an Honor Guard? by Tim Svoboda from South Omaha Legion Post 331. Noon lunch and bingo @ 1 p.m. Nov. 16: Turkey dinner,
Mega Bingo, and a guest speaker @ 11 a.m. Hear a talk about the book, What Makes Olga Run – written by Bruce Grierson – presented by Julie Sebastian, MSW. Turkey theme bingo will follow lunch. Reservations are due by 11 a.m. on Nov. 9. • Nov. 20: VNA talk on How to Get Better Sleep @ 11 a.m. Learn how quality sleep can improve your health. Stay for 1 p.m. bingo. • Nov. 23: Corrigan Family Thanksgiving Dinner @ 11 a.m. Play a Thanksgiving trivia game for prizes. At noon, enjoy a turkey breast dinner. • Nov. 30: Methodist College nursing students will provide blood pressure checks from 10:30 a.m. to noon and an educational program @ 11:30 a.m. The center will be closed on Nov. 10 for Veterans Day
and on Nov. 23 and 24 for Thanksgiving. Everyone, including new players, is welcome to play chair volleyball every Tuesday and Thursday @ 11 a.m. A noon lunch follows. 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, call Lynnette at 402-731-7210.
Read it & eat By Lois Friedman readitandeat@yahoo.com
(The Omaha Public Library’s Read it & Eat Culinary Conference is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 4 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the W. Dale Clark Library, 215 S. 15th St.)
You’ll enjoy these sweet treats These beautiful cookbooks are filled with sweet offerings of every flavor. Bean to Bar Chocolate By Megan Giller (Storey, $19.95) It all starts with an unroasted cocoa bean. Experience seven chapters, an Epilogue: Chocolate Revolution, and an Appendix/Timetable with 22 delicious recipes. All about chocolate and mind-blowing flavors. Fabulous illustrations. Sugar Butter Flour From the files of Jenna Hunterson (Pam Krause, $25) Rules for baking pies from the heart and from life, and stories and recipes for sweet and savory pies with whimsical names like Apple My Eye, Rum Raisin Hand Pie, Leeky Roof Potato Pie, and Where There’s a Whisk There’s a Way. Raw Cake By Daisy Kristiansen & Leah Garwood-Gowers (St. Martins, $19.99) One-hundred all raw vegan recipes from the UK. Hardihood confectionery company’s popular wares. Get more nourishment from sweet treats. Beautiful photographs. Refrigerate, freeze, or dehydrate these goodies. Butter Celebrates! By Rose Daykin ((Knopf, $35) Holidays and celebrations to enjoy with friends and family with more than 100 recipes with detailed instructions from Vancouver's Butter Baked Goods Bakery. Bits and bobs, tips, tricks, and to how to tie the perfect bow to wrap a box of goodies. Lovely photographs. The Vanilla Bean Baking Book By Sarah Kieffer (Avery, $27) The award-winning blogger shares 100 recipes simplified to be part of your everyday pleasures at home. Tips, ingredients, equipment, and lots of how-to photos. From Morning Baking through Homemade Staples-to fill your pantry or give as gifts. From the Cookies + Bars chapter is this soft and delicate cookie that goes well with a cup of coffee. Chocolate Sugar Cookies (Makes 11 to 12 large cookies)
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup natural cocoa powder or a combination cocoa powder 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 1 3/4 cups sugar, plus 1 cup for rolling 1 large egg 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract Adjust an oven rack to the middle-position. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, beat the butter on medium until smooth. Add the 1 3/4 cups sugar and beat on medium until light and fluffy, two to three minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on medium until combined. Add the flour mixture and beat on low until just combined. Place the remaining cup of sugar in a medium bowl. Form the cookies into three-ounce balls (a scant 1/3 cup each). Roll each ball in the sugar and place six cookies on each prepared sheet pan. Bake one sheet at a time 11 to 14 minutes, until the edges have set and the centers are puffed and starting to crackle. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack and let the cookie cool completely on the pan. Variation: Add one teaspoon ground cardamon to the sugar used for rolling for chocolate-cardamon cookies.
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November 2017
Omaha Computer 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 meets the third Saturday of each month from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Abrahams Library, 5011 N. 90th St. Annual dues to OCUG are $25. OCUG 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 402-333-6529.
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: Nov. 3 @ 9:30 a.m. Metro Community College 829 N. 204th St. Call 531-622-2620 to register
Add birds, bees to your flowers, trees By Melinda Myers A garden filled with flowers, birds, bees, and butterflies is a sight to behold. These winged beauties add color, sound, and motion to our gardens. Plus, they help maximize a garden’s productivity by pollinating plants and managing plantdamaging pests. But what about those unwanted visitors to the garden? The aphids, mites, and cabbage worms that feed upon our plants or the mosquitoes that feed upon us. There are ways to have a beautiful garden and enjoy the outdoors when we work to manage our landscape. Add a birdbath, a few birdhouses, and plants for the birds. They’ll repay you by eating many of the insects that feed upon your plants. Include seed-bearing plants like coneflowers, Rudbeckias, and cosmos as well as berry plants like Juneberry, dogwood, and firethorn. Add an evergreen and a few trees for shelter and nesting if space allows. Include a hummingbird
feeder and a few of their favorite flowers like columbine, salvia, penstemon, and phlox. Then watch as these fast flyers feed upon aphids, mites, and mosquitoes. Examine your plants for garden pests. Catching insects early may mean the difference between a successful harvest and disappointment. Before reaching for the pesticides and destroying their food source, attract the good guys and manage unwanted pests with a few of these strategies. Tolerate a bit of damage and wait for the birds, lady beetles, praying mantis, and other beneficial insects to move in and eat the bad bugs in the garden. Use barriers like row covers to keep cabbage worms off your cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and Brussels Sprouts. Sink shallow containers filled with beer into the soil around hostas and some of the other favorite plants of slugs and snails. These pests are attracted to the fermenting yeast, crawl inside and die. If the bad guys persist, step up your eco-friendly control. Knock small populations of aphids and mites off plants with a strong blast of water. Apply insecticidal soap or Summit Year-Round Spray Oil if nature needs a helping hand. These organic insecticides are effective at managing pests, while gentle on the good guys when used properly. Keep mosquito populations to a minimum. Drain water from toys, buckets, or any object that can hold water and serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Change the water in birdbaths several times a week. Toss a Mosquito Dunk (SummitResponsibleSolutions.com) into rain barrels and water features. This organic insecticide only kills the larvae of mosquitoes, black flies, and fungus gnats. It won’t harm bees, butterflies, birds, pets, and people. Evaluate your success and make needed adjustments. Write a note in next year’s calendar to watch for the return of these pests. As you begin to work in harmony with nature you will find more birds, bees and butterflies visiting your garden. (Myers has written more than 20 gardening books.)
Nov. 18 @ 1 p.m. AARP Info Center 1941 S. 42nd St #220 Call 402-398-9568 to register
Nov. 29 @ 9 a.m. CHI Midlands 11111 S. 84th St. Call 800-253-4368 to register
WHITMORE LAW OFFICE Wills • Trusts • Probate
Ask A Lawyer: Q — What rights does my domestic partner have at my death?
A — Your unmarried partner will not have any rights in your
property at the time of your death other than rights you specifically confer. Without a will, your children, if any, and siblings have priority over your domestic partner to inherit your assets and to the right to be named administrator of your estate. We advise unmarried couples to hold assets in joint tenancy or designate their partner as POD beneficiary to provide for them in case of an unexpected death. We also recommend unmarried partners name each other as power of attorney agent in both financial and health care instruments. Have a question about estate planning? Give us a call!
AARP Legal Service Network • No Charge For Initial Consultation
7602 Pacific Street, Ste 200 • (402) 391-2400 http://whitmorelaw.com
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Omaha’s Dundee Theater: A return engagement for the ages By Leo Adam Biga Contributing Writer
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he return this year of Omaha’s long dormant Dundee Theater – 4952 Dodge St. – under its new Film Streams brand, is cause for celebration whether you’re a movie fanatic or not. Once the theater closed in 2013 for renovations, then-owner Denny Moran assured the public the theater would reopen once renovations were completed. But the project kept getting delayed, and by 2015 rumors spread he was looking to sell the property. The rumors were true. Moran fielded offers with no guarantee the theater would remain intact. Speculation grew. Neighbors and preservationists didn’t want an irreplaceable icon torn down for some generic new development. With the theater’s future uncertain, many feared it might meet the same sad fate as Omaha’s Indian Hills theater that got razed for a parking lot in 2001. Even before Moran called it quits, Film Stream’s Founder and Director Rachel Jacobson and the board of her north downtown art cinema, eyed acquiring the theater as a second venue should the Dundee ever falter. “We knew that as a nonprofit organization with a really strong board and donor base, and with a good reputation in the community, we would be in the best position to take it on if it was threatened,” she said. Once Jacobson learned the Dundee was indeed on the market and its fate in question, she contacted Moran and philanthropist Susie Buffett, a major Film Streams donor, and a deal was struck. When news broke Buffett bought the Dundee and donated it to Film Streams, this two-reel cliffhanger got a happy ending. From 2013 to today, it’s been the most closely followed local movie theater saga since the Indian Hills razing debacle. Why so much interest? In one fell swoop, Omaha’s regained a rare neighborhood theater that’s catered to audiences for nine decades and
Courtesy of Nebraska Loves Public Schools
Rachel Jacobson, founder and director of Film Streams.
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Courtesy of Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture
The renovated Dundee Theater will feature a new promenade on the north side, as well as a patio, the Kitchen Table cafe, a micro auditorium, a conference room, and a bookstore. preserved a historic building that’s served as a cultural touchstone, landmark, and neighborhood fixture. “The Dundee Theater has not only brought art and culture to central Omaha, it has also served to let people driving by know where they are for nearly a century,” said longtime Dundee resident and theater patron Thomas Gouttiere, the retired director of the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Center for Afghanistan Studies. The 2016 announcement this historic building would be saved, undergo millions of dollars in renovations, and have new life as a millennial art cinema center, was met with relief and gratitude by area movie fans and Dundee neighborhood residents. That appreciation extended to $7.5 million raised in a public campaign to support the theater’s makeover. “That kind of support does not grow on trees. It has to be earned the hard way – through vision, a lot of hard work, and a high-quality program. And Rachel Jacobson and her staff have them all,” said Film Streams booster Samuel Walker, a retired professor in the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. “I don’t think we could have ever hoped for a better outcome for the theater than to have Film Streams renovate it and to be able to have the kind of programming they’re going to offer there,” said Vic Gutman, president of the Omaha marketing firm Vic Gutman & Associates. “It’s going to be a huge anchor for what’s already a very vibrant neighborhood.” Retired University of Nebraska at Omaha professors and Dundeearea residents David Corbin (health education) and Josie Metal-Corbin (dance instructor) shared similar sentiments in an email: “It is nice to see the Dundee Theater returning to the neighborhood. We enjoyed walking to the theater together and seeing great
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films. Dundee may have lost our grocery store, hardware store, and bookstore, but the renovation of the Dundee Theater helps the city and the neighborhood rebuild a sense of community.”
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he Dundee Theater’s sleek new marquee and main entrance pay homage to a rich film heritage while signaling a fresh new start. “It’s honoring that whole history of movie going in our community that’s enriched so many lives,” Jacobson said. “Film is arguably the most engaging and innovative art form of the 20th century. How wonderful that art form will be shown in Dundee well into the 21st century in such a charming, hospitable, and attractive venue,” Gouttierre said. Though it grew rough around the edges by the early 2000s and faced increasingly stiff competition from multi-screen theaters and Internet streaming, the Dundee outlasted all the other independent locally-owned and operated single-screen theaters. The fact it was the last of Omaha’s still active neighborhood theaters added to its nostalgia and luster. When the Dundee’s sale was complete, an auction of its old the-
Janet and Denny Moran, former owners of Omaha’s Dundee Theater.
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ater seats drew many buyers. The theater was the main attraction but it once also connected to a video store and a bar owned by Moran. The Dundee Theater set itself apart with its niche for projecting independent, foreign, and midnight movies. For a long time, it had the metro Omaha art film market nearly to itself. “Before Film Streams, the Dundee was the only spot in town if you wanted to see the cool films coming out. As a high schooler, the midnight movies were a big thing to look forward to,” said Nik Fackler, among an impressive group of Dundee Theater devotees who became filmmakers.
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fter 88 years of nearly continuous operation, the Dundee Theater closed in 2013 for renovations that proved too much for Denny Moran and wife, Janet. They owned other theater properties as well. The retirement age couple wanted out, sought, and found a buyer for the Dundee Theater and its contiguous properties. “I didn’t want to run anything anymore,” Denny Moran said. “I was tired, I didn’t want anything. The kids are grown. Jan and I just wanted to enjoy ourselves and travel a little bit.” The Dundee Theater holds many memories for the Morans. While it was their baby, it was also a burden. Denny Moran is glad it’s in good hands so it can generate memories for new generations of moviegoers. “I’m glad it’s being saved,” he said. “It came down to two other buyers, and one other buyer wanted to save it, too. We came close to selling it to them but the wife had little kids and Jan said, ‘I don’t want it to ruin her life like it did mine with all the time being spent on theater stuff while the kids are in day care.’ So, we went with Susie’s offer. This other couple would have --Please turn to page 11.
Renovated landmark will be modernized while maintaining old world charm
Photo by Daniel Mueller Courtesy of Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture
In mid-October 2017, a new, but old-fashioned sign and marquee were added to the Dodge Street side of the Dundee Theater. --Continued from page 10. taken care of it, too, but it’s not many times when a Buffett calls. She’s got the money to put in it for the new infrastructure and to secure its future.”
“It’ll be more than just a movie theater,” Gutman said. “It’s going to be a place for great conversations, for learning about film, being exposed to films you wouldn’t normally see, and then having Kitchen Table there. So, I see it as a true lley Poyner Macchietto social and educational space. And Architecture in collabora- I love the fact I can walk to it from tion with Lund Ross Con- my home.” struction have kept the The Dundee Theater’s purpose is Dundee Theater’s old world charm to be a real true community space, during the renovations, while modJacobson confirmed. “There are ernizing it, too. They uncluttered multiple spots throughout that fathe roofline. They reconfigured the cilitate people coming together and main entrance off Dodge Street on talking either before a film or after the south side to a new promenade a film. It has that design intention of on the north. They added a patio. this is what a neighborhood theater They folded in a Kitchen Table cafe can be in the 21st century. that leads into an expanded theater “We tried to be really thoughtlobby with its original terrazzo ful about that by incorporating the floor intact. They added a conferbookstore, by having the micro ence room, a bookstore, and a micro cinema, which also has the potential auditorium, thus giving the Dundee to do not only ticketed shows but a second screen for the first time. hosting new adult education courses “It is going to be a neighborhood there,” she continued. theater, but we see the audience for “Kitchen Table will give people the cinema being the entire comanother reason to go there, to hang munity,” Jacobson said. “I like to out, without even going to see a think of it as Omaha’s neighborhood movie. That creates all these opporcinema. It still has that feel, that tunities for interaction, and that’s a history.” big part of what we’re about. We’re
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Rachel Jacobson (far left) with (left to right) actress Julianne Moore, Susie Buffett, and Nancy Jacobson (Rachel’s mother) at Film Streams’ Feature VII event in April 2017. trying to create learning about film by osmosis.” Jacobson said great care was taken balancing renovation versus restoration “to make what we know will be a sustainable place versus what we maintain for people’s memories and the history of the Dundee.”
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rogress on the transformed theater, which sat idle for years, has been closely watched. None of this might have happened if Moran hadn’t hung in there for 30-plus years and waited for the right offer. The theater could easily have been history by now. “I want to give a shout-out to Denny Moran, who kept it going for so long,” Gutman said. “I don’t think it was a money-maker for him. I think it was a labor of love and a commitment to the neighborhood. It could have been torn down or repurposed for something different a long time ago and he kept that property intact. I think we owe him a thank you for doing that.” Sentiments about the theater run deep. It’s meant so much to so
many. It’s not hard to imagine a pair of Hollywood legends who grew up in Dundee, the late Henry Fonda and Dorothy McGuire, may have frequented the theater. Though it was still a stage venue when Fonda left Omaha to pursue his acting dreams, he twice did extended play runs there. It’s nice to think he might have caught a picture show or two at Dundee during his down time. Future late night TV king Johnny Carson may have indulged in some movies at the Dundee when he was starting out at WOW in Omaha. Other celebs who’ve known the Dundee as their neighborhood theater include billionaire investment guru Warren Buffett. His daughter, Susie, who’s also seen her share of pictures there, is responsible for reactivating the theater through her Sherwood Foundation. Some fans who cut their cinema teeth there have gone on to be feature filmmakers, including Dan Mirvish (Omaha, the Movie) and Fackler (Lovely, Still). Mirvish grew up near the theater. Besides the Dundee being a neigh--Please turn to page 12.
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Filmmakers, movie buffs reflect on favorite Dundee memories
From the Bostwick-Frohardt Collection in the Durham Museum’s Photo Archive
The Dundee Theater had seating for nearly 500 guests in 1925. --Continued from page 11. borhood staple, he echoes others in saying how supportive Moran was of the then-nascent local cinema community in letting emerging filmmakers like himself show their work there. “I, of course, remember going to movies at the Dundee, growing up in the neighborhood, and then later renting tapes at the video store,” Mirvish said. “My most distinct memory is when we were shooting Omaha, the Movie in fall of 1993. We screened some of our dailies there. We were shooting 35mm film and the footage had to be sent to a lab in L.A. for processing and sent back to Omaha for us to watch. The Dundee was the best place to watch the footage once a week. “Denny was great about letting us in there. The whole cast and crew came. It was a huge relief to see our footage.” A few years earlier, Moran set a precedent working with filmmakers when he allowed Sean Penn to screen dailies of the actor’s directorial debut, The Indian Runner (1991), which was shot in and around Plattsmouth. When local filmmaker Dana Altman, who produced Omaha, the Movie, needed a space to premiere his locally-made feature directorial debut, The Private Public, Moran agreed to play it at the theater. Altman protégé Fackler was a teenager making short films then with friend Tony Bonacci. The aspiring filmmakers got their shorts screened the same night. Fackler, who went on to direct Oscarwinners Martin Landau and Ellen Burstyn in Lovely, Still, recalls the opportunity fondly. “Like total nerds, we made tickets in Photoshop and sent them out to our friends and family. We rented suits and a limo, got dates. We got our short films shown at Dundee.” An earlier “graduate” of the Dundee, the late Gail Levin, went on to make acclaimed documentaries about film (Making the Misfits, and James Dean: Sense Memory). She remembered seeing Federico
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Fellini’s, 8 1/2 as a teenager and what an impression that film and others by international artists made on her.
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acobson appreciates the memories the Dundee Theater holds for so many because it does for her, too. “I grew up nearby, so we went to Dundee plenty. My dad tells the story that my very first movie was at the Dundee,” she said. “A 31-year-old dad took his 18-monthold daughter to The Empire Strikes Back. He said whenever Darth Vader came on, he would take me into the lobby. So, my first memory is not my own, it’s more my dad’s. “In high school, I remember seeing Citizen Ruth there, which was huge, and Clerks – that was definitely a big one. I remember going to a full house and me and my girlfriends being the only girls opening night of Showgirls. We were just so interested because it had so much press and we really wanted to check it out.” Memories just like these from movie lovers have been shared with Jacobson and her Film Streams staff ever since the nonprofit took over the Dundee. Two filmmakers with Omaha ties, Joan Micklin Silver (Hester Street and Crossing Delancey) and Alexander Payne (Election, About Schmidt, The Descendants, Nebraska), go way back with the Dundee. Payne’s childhood home was within a couple blocks of the theater. It’s where he fell in love with 1970s cinema. Whenever back home from college in the 1980s, he’d return to whet his cinema appetite at the Dundee. Even after finding success with his filmmaking career in the 1990s and beyond, winning two Academy Awards and being nominated for several others, Payne made the Dundee his go-to Omaha sanctuary for feeding his celluloid hunger. “Alexander would come in. His mom would come to movies here all the time.” Moran said. “They’re both big Dundee fans.” Moran has a handwritten note by
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From the Bostwick-Frohardt Collection in the Durham Museum’s Photo Archive
The Dodge Street side of Omaha’s Dundee Theater in 1925. Payne thanking him for all he did in keeping the theater going. Payne shot much of his first three feature films in Omaha, including scenes in and around various Dundee haunts. His debut film Citizen Ruth starring Laura Dern played at the theatre. “I’ve got a Citizen Ruth poster signed by Laura Dern that I left in there for Film Streams,” said Moran, who collected other film memorabilia signed by visiting film artists. “I had them framed in glass. It’s part of the theater and so I left it with the theater.” Payne’s latest film Downsizing is scheduled to make its national premiere at the new Dundee on Dec. 22. Given his personal history with the Dundee, Payne felt a sense of proprietorship in it. As a Film Streams board member, that ownership’s no longer symbolic, but real. “The reopening of the Dundee Theater is the realization of a dream – a dream we’ve had for a long time,” Payne said. “First of all, for preserving it in any form. That in the current incarnation of Omaha, it belonging to Film Streams is perfect. When the Morans closed the theater a few years ago, my hope was that if it was going to reopen, that it become part of Film Streams. Now the dream is a reality and I couldn’t be more excited.” Payne’s warm feelings run deep because as a second home, the Dundee Theater helped form his cinema sensibilities. “I spent a huge amount of time in that theater watching movies,” he said. Payne also has a soft spot for vintage theaters. He’s supported the restored Midwest Theater in Scottsbluff and the World Theatre in Kearney. He speaks longingly of the time when neighborhood theaters dotted the urban landscape and he’s enthused about efforts to preserve and revive those theaters. He said the Dundee, which once sat 470 people, stood out from some other cinemas. “Few of these neighborhood the-
November 2017
aters were as large as the Dundee. The Dundee had a more regal presence, so I’m extra glad it has survived.” Micklin Silver attended movies at the Dundee. Her family, who owned Micklin Lumber, lived nearby and she saw standard post-World War II Hollywood fare growing up in the 1940s before moving east and becoming enamored with world cinema.
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he Dundee has shown motion pictures since the early 1930s, but it opened in as a vaudeville house. Harry Houdini once performed his escape artist act there. The locally owned Goldberg Circuit converted it from stage to film just as talking pictures became all the rage as a cheap escape from the hardships of the Great Depression. The noted Omaha father-son architect team of John and Alan McDonald designed the historical revivalist venue that was Omaha’s then-westernmost theater. It opened in 1925 to much fanfare in the Roaring Twenties. An ad touted it as a modern community asset to be proud of: “The opening of the new Dundee Theater at 50th and Dodge is another example of the growth and development of this enterprising community. Only a personal visit can possibly give you an idea of the beauty of the lobby and interior of this beautiful showplace. “All the latest developments in theater construction have been included in the building of the Dundee. All the new ideas for the comfort and entertainment of patrons will be found even in a greater extent than other houses built just a few years ago.” The ad went on to play up the beauty and comfort angle, referring to the “steel and concrete fireproof construction, finest ventilation, and extra-large upholstered seats with plenty of aisle space.” The promotion continued: “Our policy is to bring to this theater the best pictures obtainable anywhere, --Please turn to page 13.
Jacobson: Taking on the Dundee project ‘seems so right’ --Continued from page 12. and to present them as finely as possible.” Finally, the ad played off the names of its McDonald designers. The elder, John, earlier designed the George A. Joslyn home, now known as Joslyn Castle, and First Unitarian Church of Omaha. The McDonalds later designed Joslyn Art Museum. During the 1950s the Dundee was still part of the circuit owned by Ralph and Hermine Goldberg, who operated it as a first-run commercial house screening Hollywood studio releases. By 1958, Ralph Goldberg was dead and his widow sold the Dundee and State Theaters to the Cooper Foundation in Lincoln, Neb. That organization acquired the Dundee for its Cooper Theaters chain that later included the Indian Hills. Under Cooper management, the Dundee switched to showing art films from the U.S. and abroad. “We have noted around the country a growing interest in the motion picture as an art form,” a Cooper rep once told The Omaha World-Herald. “We hope to encourage this.” Dundee’s artsy foray was interrupted when it exclusively booked The Sound of Music and ended up playing the mega-musical hit for more than two years on its solo screen. The 20th Century Fox picture from Robert Wise began a reserved-seat, roadshow run in April 1965. In August 1966, Cooper Theaters reported that in its 69th week the film set records for the longest run and highest gross in Omaha. The Sound of Music’s eventual 118-week run was the second longest in the world, exceeded only in London, England, according to Art Thompson with the Cooper Foundation. The Omaha theater went on to host other long runs in its Cooper era. Funny Girl (1968) ran 55 weeks and Hello Dolly (1969) played 36 weeks.
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nder Moran’s ownership, the Dundee enjoyed overwhelming receptions to very different kinds of movies. The South African comedy The Gods Must Be Crazy, and the spare American drama Tender Mercies, featuring Robert Duvall in a Best Actor Oscar performance, each played several months. After Sound of Music’s
exceptional showing, the art emphasis resumed. When business waned, the theater was purchased by Omahans Edward Cohen and David Frank. They tried a familyfriendly slate but eventually settled for second-run features. Nothing worked. By the early 1980s, the Dundee struggled turning a dollar. It was already among the last single-screen commercial neighborhood theaters still in operation here. Virtually all the rest – in Benson, north Omaha, and south Omaha – were closed and repurposed. All the downtown movie palaces were defunct or converted for new uses. Theaters moved west with the suburbs and independent, locally-owned and operated single-screen movie houses gave way to chains and multiplexes. Then-Omaha Police Department officer Denny Moran bought the Dundee in 1980 as a real estate investment. He was already buying and flipping houses in the area. His interest was the prime property the Dundee occupied, not the movie business. He already owned two adjacent lots and wanted to tie up all the land on that half block. He initially planned to only keep the theater running until he found a national franchise, perhaps McDonald’s, to build on the site. But then a funny thing happened. He fell in love with it and the movie exhibition business. Though Moran, an Omaha native, was a casual movie fan and frequented many local theaters growing up, he was a most unlikely candidate to carry on the Dundee’s legacy. For starters, he was not a film buff and he had zero prior experience in the film exhibition game. “I didn’t know diddly squat about the movie business,” he told a reporter in 2012. Besides, Moran was lucky to even be alive. A decade before buying the theater, he was a young cop in town when he intersected with a tragic incident that remains one of the darkest days in local law enforcement history. On Aug. 17, 1970, an anonymous 911 call of a woman being assaulted in a house at 2867 Ohio St. resulted in several police officers being dispatched. Moran and partner Larry Minard were first on the scene. They found two
vacant houses. Minard and other officers entered the back of the 2867 Ohio St. dwelling while Moran investigated the other. Moran made his way outside when a tremendous explosion went off in the first house. Though protected by a tree, the concussive force sent him flying. Minard, a husband and father of five, died and several officers suffered injuries. The 911 call had been a ruse to lure the cops into a trap and when Minard opened the front door to exit the house a powerful homemade bomb detonated. Two local Black Panthers were arrested, charged, and convicted of the crime. They denied any involvement and never changed their stories. Controversy arose later when documents revealed the federal government engaged in illegal measures to discredit and disrupt the Panthers. Asked about the incident, Moran confirmed the facts of that fateful night, his eyes watering at the memory of the trauma still with him. He became an undercover narcotics officer for the Omaha Police Department and a bodyguard-driver for the mayor. Once Moran had the Dundee and celluloid got in his blood, he wanted to make it work as a going concern again. He finally hit upon returning to its recent past but this time going all in in making it an art cinema. The timing was right because the 1980s saw the end of the New Hollywood and the emergence of the Independent or Indie craze. Smart early bookings helped reestablish the Dundee as a must-see cinema venue. Then, Moran scored a real coup by getting Universal Studios’ rerelease of five classic Alfred Hitchcock films long unavailable and unseen: Rear Window, Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Rope, and The Trouble with Harry By the mid-1980s on, the Dundee was THE place to catch the latest Woody Allen film. By the 1990s it was where you went to see works by breakout new talents such as Payne. The midnight movie screenings with their partylike atmosphere of fans reciting lines aloud, yelling, and throwing popcorn, became a signature thing. The sound system was another attraction point.
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“I was always a big sound guy,” Moran said. “We had the best sound of any theater in the area. It was clean sound, not loud sound. I was the first one in town with Dolby digital. It was expensive.” Once, the Dundee’s high fidelity sound secured a coveted picture. “We were talking about playing U2: Rattle and Hum and I had a guy come in from Paramount Pictures because he wanted to check out the theater before he would give it to us. “After we started playing that movie, a local radio station said, ‘You can go see the movie, but if you want to hear that movie, go to the Dundee Theater.” Stephanie Kurtzuba, a busy film-TV actress (The Wolf of Wall Street) from Omaha, recalled seeing the movie with a big group of friends and being enthralled by the experience. “I think that was more about (U2 leader) Bono than the theater, but I sure was grateful Omaha had a movie house that showed things like concert films.”
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he Dundee continued enjoying its art niche but once Film Streams came on the scene and on-demand services like Netflix, Hulu, and Red Box appeared, margins got smaller. It became more grind-house than art house. Moran said he and Film Streams enjoyed a friendly relationship. “We always had a good rapport. Even when I was open here, I’d help them out with stuff, like spare parts when their projector broke down.” “We had a pretty complementary relationship,” Jacobson said. “It felt more collaborative than competitive.”
Industry changes took the fun out of running a theater for Moran who held on as long as he could. After it got to be too much, he found the best deal for himself, the theater, and the community. “There’s a lot of people we need to thank for what’s happening there,” Gutman said. “Denny Moran. The Sherwood Foundation, which does so much for this city. Rachel (Jacobson) and her vision for Film Streams. All the donors. “We are fortunate to have so many visionaries and philanthropists who are helping to shape those visions and make them a reality.”
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he Dundee will soon be back to projecting our collective dreams and nightmares, whimsies, and follies, on the big screen. Film buff Walker can’t wait. “(My wife) Mary Ann and I practically live at Film Streams. And we live only a block and a half away from their new Dundee venue,” he said. “I have had the thrill of seeing all my favorites from my college years, and finally a chance to see the great international films I never saw.” Jacobson appreciates what good stewards the Morans were in keeping the theater viable for so long. Rachel said she and her staff realize the “huge responsibility” Film Streams is taking on, but the fit seems so right. “It’s seen so much film history and in that respect, it’s so intricately tied to our mission and what we’re about. In one sense, it’s a big leap for us, and in another sense, something about it feels natural nextstep about it, too.” She reassures people the theater will “continue to be the Dundee,” but for a new age.
The Dundee Theater’s south side on Oct. 4, 2017.
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Culinary conference is set for Nov. 4 at W. Dale Clark Library
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ou’re invited to attend the 2017 Read It & Eat Culinary Conference on Saturday, Nov. 4 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the W. Dale Clark Library, 215 S. 15th St. The seventh annual conference will begin with an 11 a.m. greeting by Lois Friedman who has written the Read It and Eat column in the New Horizons for many years. Guests can celebrate sweets as they learn more about local candy makers and chocolatiers through demonstrations beginning at 11:15 a.m. and a panel discussion at 1 p.m. Author Kim Reiner will discuss her new book, Lost Restaurants of Omaha at 12:15 p.m. Guests will also enjoy food samples, prize drawings, and a cookbook exchange. Parking will be validated for conference participants who park at the Omaha Park One garage at 15th and Douglas streets. For more information, please contact Amy Mather at 402-444-3399 or amather@omahalibrary.org.
In Ralston High School theater
Acappella Chorus to perform Nov. 18 The Acappella Omaha Chorus will present The League of Harmony: Defense Against Discord on Saturday, Nov. 18. The 7 p.m. performance will be held in the community theater inside Ralston High School, 8969 Park Dr. Tickets – which are $15 – are available at the door, from an Acappella Omaha Chorus member, or by calling 402-932-0155.
Monthly support groups available for caregivers of loved ones with dementia National Family Caregivers Month during November calls attention to the challenges of Caregiving Around the Clock. Omaha’s Flaherty Senior Consulting offers four monthly groups that support family caregivers with a focus on those caring for loved ones with dementia. These Solutions Groups provide opportunities for participants to learn how to deal with different caregiver issues, obtain skills and knowledge, engage in discussions, and meet other caregivers facing similar challenges as theirs. “Caregiving can be a 24/7 job, and challenges may include balancing work and family life with care for a loved one, feeling isolated, navigating senior care and medical systems, caring for a loved one who is not the same person as before the disease, and more,” said group facilitator Nancy Flaherty, MS, a certified dementia practitioner. Each Solutions Group sets its own topic for discussion each month based on members’ needs, and the facilitator provides information on the subject. Group members also share their experiences and learn from each other. The monthly meetings are free, but registration is required. The following Solutions Groups meet in: • Omaha: First Thursday, The Servite Center of Compassion, 7400 Military Ave. • Omaha: Third Wednesday, St. Timothy Lutheran Church, 510 N. 93rd St. • West Omaha: Second Tuesday, St. Vincent de Paul Church, 14330 Eagle Run Dr. • Papillion: Fourth Saturday, Trinity Family Life Center, 520 W. Lincoln St. For additional information or to sign up for a Solutions Group, contact Nancy Flaherty at 402-312-9324 or online at flahertyconsulting@cox.net.
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‘Reach for It’ uses dance, movement to connect body, mind of older adults
Instructor Danielle Laurion (far right) with (from left): Norma Naraine and
Marilyn Allen during a ‘Reach for It’ class in the New Cassel auditorium.
By Danielle Laurion
LMHP, R-DMT, GLCMA
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s the Baby Boomers age, there’s a need to improve the quality of life for these men and women. While exercise has always been prized as an important component in keeping people active and healthy, dance is often overlooked as only a social outlet. However, the Reach for It program has been working to change that perspective. The dance and movement class started with a focus on improving the movement potential for people with Parkinson’s Disease (PD), and has grown to be inclusive for all older adults and/or people with movement difficulties. The program isn’t just for people who know how to dance; it shows all humans have the ability to move their bodies. Reach for It started in 2009 when Josie Metal-Corbin and Taffy Howard collaborated on an idea to bring something related to the Mark Morris Dance Company’s Dance for PD class to Omaha. Josie connected with the Dance for PD program in New York City and decided Omaha could support its own version, especially since Parkinson’s Disease impacted Nebraska at a higher rate than most of the country. Josie and Taffy began a trial class, and found it to be successful. Students from the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s biomechanics department studied the participants and found they had better gait in their walking and were quicker to transition from sitting to standing after taking the Reach for It class for 10 weeks. I joined the group in 2010 and have continued to expand the program with help from the Xandi Johnson Memorial Fund. Johnson was one of the original members of the Reach for It group; and upon her death, her husband established the Xandi Johnson Memorial Fund to allow the class to continue in her honor. Xandi loved to dance, and even as her ability for movement deteriorated due to having Parkinson’s Disease, she found ways to connect through expressive movement during the Reach for It class. Her legacy carries on today as participants express themselves through improvisation, choreographed routines, and rhythmic exploration. Students enjoy live piano music while
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working through fun-filled movements designed to connect their body and mind. As a dance/movement therapist, I craft movement combinations that incorporate Irmgard Bartenieff’s body connectivities, Rudolph Laban’s movement theories, and various rhythms to make sure the entire body becomes alive. Participants don’t have to dwell on what their bodies can and can’t do; instead, they’re free to allow the music to elicit memories and emotions that recapture their youth while honoring the knowledge their bodies hold in the present. They students engage with one another through smiles, laughs, singing, sounds, and dancing. Participants unlock the potential their bodies still hold by relaxing, connecting to others, and moving with purpose. While there are many psychological and physical benefit to the class, the participants’ experiences explain a lot about the impact Reach for It has on their lives. “I struggle to walk sometimes,” said Norma Naraine, a long-time Reach for It student. “My steps are short and sometimes my body won’t do what my brain tells it to do; but, after I take class, I can walk smoother and I feel more stable.” “I exercise regularly and take care of home repairs and chores by myself, so I consider myself in good health,” participant Marilyn Allen said. “None of the other activities I do give me that same feeling I get from Reach for It. I’m relaxed and my whole body feels engaged every time I finish class.” These responses are not uncommon. The class hosts a core group of males and females who have been with the class for years because they value the benefit the movement provides their bodies. The class welcomes new people into the group. Every participant is reminded to move at their own ability level while being encouraged to explore new movement patterns. In its eighth season, Reach for It classes are held Fridays from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the auditorium at the New Cassel Retirement Center, 900 N. 90th St. The next group of free classes begin on March 23, 2018. For more information, contact me at 402517-0698 or dlaurion@hotmail.com. (Laurion is the lead teacher and director for the Reach for It program in Omaha.)
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Heartland Generations Center
ou’re invited to visit the Heartland Generations Center – 4318 Fort St. – for the following: • Wednesday, Nov. 1: Arts and Krafts class with Kina @ 10:30 a.m. • Thursday, Nov. 2: Occupational therapy students from Creighton University will assess leisure and activity @ 9:50 a.m. • Friday, Nov. 3 & 17: Quilting with Bernie. • Monday, Nov. 6: 3-D sculpturing with Tom McLaughlin from WhyArts? @ 10:30 a.m. • Wednesday, Nov. 8: Presentation on mental health – including depression and Alzheimer’s – by Clarkson College nursing
students from 1 to 2 p.m. • Tuesday, Nov. 14: Visit Joslyn Museum and the Durham Café beginning @ 10:30 a.m. • Thursday, Nov. 16: Manicures @ 11 a.m. • Tuesday, Nov. 21: Computer class with Shannon @ 11 a.m. • Wednesday, Nov 22: Thanksgiving celebration @ 11:30 a.m. • Wednesday, Nov. 29: Presentation by Methodist College nursing students @ 10 a.m. The center will be closed on Friday, Nov. 10 for Veterans Day and on Thursday, Nov. 23 and Friday, Nov. 24 for Thanksgiving. Other center events include bingo Wednesday @ 12: 30 p.m. and Thursday @ 10:30 a.m. No Tai Chi classes will be offered until further notice. The Heartland Generations 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. Bus transportation is available within select neighborhoods for 50 cents each way. For meal reservations and more information, please call 402-553-5300.
Fremont Friendship Center You’re invited to visit the Fremont Friendship Center, 1730 W. 16th St. (Christensen Field), for the following: • Nov. 1: Hints with Home Instead @ 10 a.m. followed by pianist Wally. • Nov. 2: Presentation on advance directives @ 10 a.m. • Nov. 6: Humanities for Nebraska program @ 10:30 a.m. • Nov. 8: Music by Billy Troy @ 10:30 a.m. • Nov. 9: Nebraska Attorney General’s mobile office will visit the center from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. • Nov. 14: Presentation on What Makes Olga Run. • Nov. 15: Music by The Links @ 10 a.m. • Nov. 16: Presentation on ballroom dancing @ 9:30 a.m. • Nov. 22: Learn about closed caption telephones @ 9:45 a.m. • Nov. 29: Music by Tim Javorsky @ 10:30 a.m. • Nov. 30: Presentation on beating the winter blues @ 10 a.m. The facility will be closed on Nov. 10 for Veterans Day and Nov. 23 and 24 for Thanksgiving. 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 contribution is suggested for lunch. Reservations must be made by noon the business day prior to the meal you wish to enjoy. For meal reservations and more information, please call Laurie at 402-727-2815.
Volunteers needed The Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging is looking for volunteer drivers for its Meals on Wheels Program. Flexible weekday schedule delivering midday meals to homebound older adults in the greater Omaha area. Call Arlis at 402-444-6766 for more information.
A Caring Community Called HOME! Independent & Assisted Living
• No Entrance Fee • Medicaid Waiver Approved • All Utilities & Housekeeping Included • Spacious 1 & 2 Bedroom Apartments
49th & Q Street • 402-731-2118 www.southviewheightsomaha.com
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New Alzheimer’s support group to meet on second Tuesday of month
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he Alzheimer’s Association has a new support group in Omaha dedicated to families and friends of persons with intellectual disabilities and dementia. The group is designed for individuals concerned about changes they may be witnessing in the person with the disability such as behavior, a lack of interest in things they previously loved, and signs of declining self-help skills. It’s also for those who have received
a dementia diagnosis and want to be with other persons going through the same experiences. The group meets from 6:45 to 8:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month in the Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center on the main campus of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, 6400 Dodge St. (near the clock tower). For more information, contact Janet Miller at jlmiller809@gmail.com or 402-639-8037.
Please see the ad on page 3
New Horizons Club gains new members
Salvation Army to deliver Thanksgiving meals
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or the 26th consecutive year, The Salvation Army will provide free Thanksgiving Day meals to older adults (age 55 and over) in the metro Omaha area who are homebound or in need of a holiday meal. A reservation must be made by noon on Friday, Nov. 17 to be eligible to receive a meal. Volunteers will deliver the Turkeyfest meals on Thanksgiving morning to older adults in Omaha, Bellevue, Bennington, Elkhorn, La Vista, Millard, Ralston, and Valley.
$20 Barbara Rennert $5 Mary La Scala Joseph Bechtel Reflects donations received through October 20, 2017.
Ombudsman Program needs volunteers
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he Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging’s Ombudsman Program is seeking volunteers over age 21 to advocate for people in local long-term care facilities and the residents’ families. The program’s staff will train volunteers to identify and help them solve problems in area long-term care facilities. For more information, please call 402-444-6536.
The flu season is upon us. Cases of influenza have been reported in the United States, and according to Dr. Linda Ohri, Pharm.D., MPH, from Creighton University’s School of Pharmacy, people who have not received a flu vaccine should consider getting one as soon as possible. Despite vaccinations reducing the overall risk for flu-associated medical visits, Ohri said 58 percent of adults typically don’t get vaccinated during the flu season. “Healthy adults can become seriously ill from the flu, and they also can spread it easily, because they are often around both children and the elderly,” Ohri said. Dr. Ohri said vaccinations are especially important for high-risk individuals who have other illnesses because their immune system has already been compromised. If a high-risk individual develops influenza, their illness could become fatal, or they could end up in the hospital or intensive care. Children and older adults also have a greater risk of developing serious illness from the flu. According to the Centers for Disease Control, there were 106 flu-relat-
As a doctor for more than 30 years, I’ve seen huge changes in how I practice medicine and care for my patients. I’ve seen generations born, been invited to their weddings, and cared for them to the end. Through all these experiences, I’ve been humbled by the trust and faith my patients put in me. Those changes have been challenging, and today I frequently use the skills of my clinical staff. Modern medicine for all its wonderful advances has become so complex I’ve come to rely on their expertise. Clinical pharmacists have transformed the way I can serve my patients. Medications are a minefield and the single biggest cause of
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New Horizons
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ed pediatric deaths last flu season. Older adults face significant risk for developing pneumonia following the flu, but one in three older men and women don’t receive a flu vaccination. “Anyone over six months in age should get a flu shot once the vaccine is available, especially pregnant women,” Ohri said. “December to March is typically when the most severe A strain cases of the flu peak, but we typically see B strain cases of the flu peak in the fall or in late spring. It is important to get protected early in the flu season.” The severity of a flu season can’t be predicted at the beginning of the season. Over the course of a season, flu strains can change or new strains can rarely appear, with less protection from the flu vaccine. However, vaccinations typically still reduce the risk of developing severe illness. If individuals who have received a flu shot develop influenza-like symptoms over the course of the flu season, receiving a diagnosis from a physician can help health officials predict how severe the flu season could become.
The physician-clinical pharmacist collaboration By Dr. Marty Mancuso
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of Columbus, St. Gerald’s Catholic Church, and the Boys Scouts. Each year, many of the same families sign up to deliver the holiday meals to give back to the community and to teach their children the value of volunteerism. To reserve a Thanksgiving meal, call the Turkeyfest hotline at 402-898-6023 beginning Nov. 2. Phone lines are open weekdays through Nov. 17 from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 4 p.m. Callers must speak with an operator to reserve the meal. No voice mail messages will be accepted.
Have you received your flu shot yet?
$25 Joe Goodro
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The Thanksgiving meal will include turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce, a roll, two cookies, and a banana. Tyson Meats has generously donated the meat. In 2016, The Salvation Army prepared and delivered 1,300 meals on Thanksgiving morning after preparing and assembling the meals at the Salvation Army’s Kroc Center, 2825 Y St. Several organizations volunteer their time for the annual Turkeyfest including Omaha Works, the Knights
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hospital re-admissions. The clinical pharmacist has helped me tackle this problem in ways I couldn’t have imagined. These expertly trained doctors of pharmacy are medication specialists that focus on the medications’ benefits and effects. They’ve transformed the way my patients interact with medications in three key ways: • They do a full medication review to ensure medications are safe, effective, and minimized. In many cases, patients are on multiple prescriptions from many specialists. My pharmacist sees the whole picture, collaborates with all providers, and works with me to maximize effectiveness. • By doing this they frequently reduce the number of medications my patients
are taking and lower the cost of those drugs by looking at generic alternatives or brands that carry the least cost on a patient’s insurance plan. • They get my patients’ medications due for re-fill on the same day so they can be sorted and pouched together in packets to eliminate pill sorters and counters. It makes it easy for my patients to take the right medicine at the right time for the right outcome. Utilizing these measures, we’re more effective as a healthcare team than as individuals. My physician colleagues and their patients benefit from this collaboration between doctor and clinical pharmacist. (Dr. Mancuso is with Think Whole Person Healthcare in Omaha.)
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Treating migraine headaches
igraine headaches are common among women and can be challenging to treat in older adults due to various health risks. While hormone therapy is effective in relieving many menopausal symptoms, its safe use in women with migraines was unconfirmed. A new study based on data from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) demonstrates its safety for this population. “Hormone therapy usage has been on the decline ever since the WHI clinical trials. Newer data has brought further clarity to its safe use, especially in younger women (age 60 and younger) who are closer to the time of menopause (within 10 years of the menopause),” says Dr. Peter F. Schnatz, immediate past president of The North American Menopause Society and one of the study’s authors. “Based on this newer data, hormones still have a major role in treating menopausal symptoms and preventing bone loss. A number of these women will have migraines. Hence, knowing the risk/benefit profile of hormone therapy in these women is critically important.” There have been few studies demonstrating the effect of hormone therapy on migraines and subsequent cardiovascular disease. Hormones have often not been prescribed for migraine sufferers because of the association between estrogen use and an increased risk of stroke in women who have migraines. This led to the recommendation that combined oral contraceptives (birth control pills) should be used cautiously or avoided entirely in women with a history of migraines. Data for 67,903 participants of the WHI clinical trials were analyzed to further examine the relationship between migraines and cardiovascular disease events and their interaction with hormone therapy use. It was discovered women with migraines tended to drink and exercise less than those without migraines and had higher vitamin D and calcium intake. Migraine sufferers were also more likely to have night sweats and hot flashes. Importantly, researchers didn’t detect a significant risk of cardiovascular disease events associated with a history of migraines. Most significantly, from the treatment safety perspective, there was no impact from hormone therapy on this relationship. “Since migraines affect one in every four women and women with migraines are often advised to avoid hormone therapy, these findings may have significant public health implications,” says Dr. Jelena Pavlovic, lead author of the study from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. “We know changes in estrogen lead to migraines for many women. Yet, there has been very little research focused on migraines through the menopausal transition when estrogen levels can fluctuate greatly,” says Dr. JoAnn Pinkerton, the North American Menopausal Society’s executive director. “This latest study clearly demonstrates the need for more research in this area so symptomatic women can benefit from proven therapies.”
Autobiography workshops begin Nov. 11 You’re encouraged to learn how to write the story of your life by attending a series of autobiography workshops on Saturdays from Nov. 11 through Jan. 13. The 10-week, 1 to 3 p.m. sessions will be held at the Waterford at Miracle Hills, 11909 Miracle Hills Dr. The cost is $15 for Waterford at Miracle Hills residents and $20 for non-residents. For more information, please contact Sheri Teut at 402-431-0011 or chris.bellstewart@yahoo.com.
Orchids provide exotic blossoms, while requiring the minimal care By Melinda Myers
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ift your spirits, enliven your indoor décor, or give the gift of beautiful blooming orchids. You’ll enjoy these exotic blossoms for months with just minimal care once you know what to do. Start with a healthy flowering plant. The phalaenopsis or moth orchid is the most widely available and easiest to grow. It’s like caring for an African violet. When you provide the proper growing conditions, maintenance is a breeze. The challenge comes with less-than-ideal indoor growing conditions of low light and dry air. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to create a better environment for your orchid. Keep in mind that most orchids are epiphytes. In nature, they grow on other plants and obtain water and nutrients from the air, water, and plant debris that accumulates in their environment. That’s why they’re grown in an orchid mix made of organic material such as peat, fir bark, and perlite. This or a similar combination retains water while providing needed drainage. Give your orchid a good soaking once a week. Pour off any excess water that collects in the saucer. Don’t allow orchids to sit in water and don’t water them too often. This can lead to root rot and your plant’s death. Further improve the environment by increasing the humidity around the plant. Group them with other orchids and indoor plants. As one plant loses moisture, or “transpires”, the others will
benefit from the increase in humidity. Plus, you’ll create a beautiful display while improving the growing conditions. Alternatively, you can create humidity trays. Place pebbles in the saucer and the pot on top of the pebbles. Allow excess water to collect in the pebbles below the pot. As this evaporates it increases the humidity around your plant. This also eliminates the need to pour off the excess water that collects in the saucer. For larger plant collections use rubber humidity plant tray grids. These save space by allowing you to place several plants on one tray. These are perfect for growing on tables or light stands. Place your plant in a bright location. Orchids do best with 12 to 14 hours of daily sunlight. Unobstructed south or east-facing windows are usually best. Or give plants a boost with artificial lights. Newer full spectrum LED lights provide needed light while using less energy. There’s no reason to hide your orchid and light setup in the basement. Check out the attractive, new indoor grow light systems like the Coltura LES Grow Frame (gardeners. com). It can be mounted on the wall or set on a table. Either way, your orchids will be in full view for all to enjoy. Fertilize actively growing plants with an orchid fertilizer. Michigan State University developed a fertilizer that efficiently provides the nutrients orchids need. They have “Orchid Tap Water” and “Orchid Pure Water Fertilizer” formulations. Just follow label directions for best results. Once the plants are done flowering, you can keep them growing indoors. If you like a challenge, try re-blooming. On phalaenopsis orchids, cut back the flowering stem between the second or third node from the bottom. Or give the plant a rest and cut the flower stem back to the leaves. Continue to provide proper care and wait to see if you were successful. You can also treat an orchid plant like a long-lasting bouquet. That way there’s no guilt if you decide to toss it away. If the guilt is too much, look for an avid gardener. There’s always someone who would be happy to adopt and try to re-bloom your non-flowering plant. (Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books.)
Florence Home Rehabilitation Rehab, renew, return home.
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.
More than 400 individuals have safely transitioned to their home.
Call 402-827-6000
www.omahaseniorcare.org
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Alzheimer’s support groups The Alzheimer’s Association Nebraska Chapter offers several caregiver support groups and specialty support groups each month in Cass, 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. For more information about any of the groups listed below, please call (toll free) 800-272-3900. CASS COUNTY • PLATTSMOUTH Second Tuesday @ 6 p.m. First Lutheran Church (chapel) 1025 Ave. D DODGE COUNTY • FREMONT Second Tuesday @ 5:30 p.m. Shalimar Gardens (second floor community room) 749 E. 29th St. DOUGLAS COUNTY • OMAHA Second Thursday @ 10 a.m. Country House Residences 5030 S. 155th St. FREE on site adult day services are provided. Every other Monday @ 7 p.m. Brighton Gardens 9220 Western Ave. First & third Monday @ 1:30 p.m. New Cassel’s Franciscan Centre 900 N. 90th St. FREE on-site adult day services are provided.
Third Tuesday @ 6 p.m. Temple Israel (media room) 13111 Sterling Ridge Dr. Caring for Your Parents Second or third Saturday @ 11 a.m. Call Teri @ 402-393-0434 for locations Spanish Language Support Group Second Tuesday @ 4 p.m. Intercultural Community Center 3010 R St. SARPY COUNTY • BELLEVUE Third Monday @ 7 p.m. Bellevue Senior Center 109 W. 22nd Ave. First Wednesday @ 1 p.m. Eastern Nebraska Vets Home (Vets and non-vets welcome) 12505 S. 40th St. • PAPILLION Fourth Thursday @ 6 p.m. Hillcrest Grand Lodge 6021 Grand Lodge Ave.
Third Tuesday @ 5 p.m. Immanuel Fontenelle 6809 N 68th Plz.
AARP’s Tax-Aide program
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olunteers are needed for AARP’s TaxAide program which provides free tax-preparation services to the community with a focus on older adults with low to moderate income. AARP membership isn’t required. Men and women are needed at the nine sites in the Omaha area that provide tax preparation services. No experience is needed other than knowing how to operate a computer and having done your own income tax returns.
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olunteers – who’ll work with experienced volunteers – will receive materials from AARP and the IRS for reference and self-study, attend training sessions in December and January, and then prepare tax returns a few hours a week during the tax season. AARP also needs greeters, administrative help, and technical support personnel who aren’t directly involved in the tax preparation. For more information log on to nebraskataxaide.org or call 402-398-9568 with your name, phone number, and email address. Your information will be passed to the local supervisor who will contact you.
Many options available when treating non-emergency healthcare concerns By Dr. Chad Masters, M.D. & M.B.A.
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ccording to the Wall Street Journal, the number of urgent care centers is increasing nationwide. More than 10,000 urgent care centers operate in the United States, but this number could increase to 11,500 in 2020. Baby boomers have contributed to the rise, as the market has expanded to meet the growing healthcare needs of this demographic. With more health care options today, choosing the right care at the right time is a key component to addressing healthcare concerns that come with aging. Most people are aware life-threatening conditions such as pressure or tightness in the chest, shortness of breath, severe abdominal pain, pain radiating down the left arm without a history of trauma or injury, severe burns, and paralysis are all health conditions that should be treated immediately at the ER. However, it becomes less clear when dealing with nonemergent concerns such as broken bones, sprains, minor urinary issues, and certain respiratory illnesses Understanding the options available and when to use them will help boomers make the most informed decisions. This ultimately saves time and money, while ensuring patients receive the most appropriate level of care. When determining the best route for care, remember: condition, convenience, and cost. Here are some questions to consider: • What’s your condition? Is your condition life-threatening? If so, the ER is the most appropriate place to go. For non-life-threatening health issues such as fevers, flu, earaches, pink eye, urinary tract infections, and colds, patients can be treated either at a walk-in urgent care center or a primary care physician’s office. Most walk-in centers can also perform X-rays, minor surgery, stitches, and provide treatment for broken bones and sprains. • Do you need timely care? If you’re unable to perform your normal daily tasks because your symptoms are getting in the way, an urgent care center has extended hours and a full medical team to address those inconveniences so you can get on your way to feeling better sooner. What’s the cost? A National Institutes of Health study found ER bills for a sprained ankle average $1,498. The Urgent Care Association of America Benchmarking Survey has reported urgent care services cost an average of $155. Urgent care centers accept most major insurances to help patients avoid out-of-network costs. For those without insurance, affordable pricing is available. Primary care physicians, ERs, and urgent care centers all have an important role in the health care system. The more informed patients are about their health care options, the better their experience – both in treatment and in cost. (Dr. Masters is a regional medical director for MedExpress.)
Millard Senior Center You’re invited to visit the Millard Senior Center at Montclair, 2304 S. 135th Ave., this month for the following: • Nov 1: African dressmaking (first Wednesday of the month) @ 9 a.m. • Nov. 3: Treat Day. Bring a snack or treat to share. • Nov. 3: Music by The Links @ 10 a.m. • Nov. 6: VNA presentation @ 11:45 a.m. • Nov. 7: Foot clinic from noon to 2 p.m. Call Tamara @ 402-546-1270 to schedule an appointment. • Nov. 8 & 29: Blood pressure checks by Methodist College nursing students @ 9:45 a.m. • Nov. 8: Veterans Day program @ 1:15 p.m. • Nov. 15: P.A.W.S. mentors and students class at 10 a.m. The center will be closed on Nov. 10 for Veterans Day and on Nov. 23 and 24 for Thanksgiving. The center is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Lunch is served @ 11:30 a.m. A $3.50 donation is suggested for the meal. Reservations are due by noon the business day prior to the meal the participant wishes to enjoy. Other center activities include walking, card games, Tai Chi, dominoes, quilting, needlework, chair volleyball, and bingo. For reservations or more information, please call 402546-1270.
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Car-Go Project needs drivers The Retired and Senior Volunteer Program is recruiting volunteers age 55 and older to provide free transportation services for older adults in Fremont and Blair. Sponsored locally by ENOA, RSVP is a national program of the Corporation for National and Community Service through the Senior Service Corps. RSVP staff members who serve in Dodge, Washington, Douglas, Sarpy, and Cass counties realize many older men and women live alone, are on fixed incomes, are no longer able to operate their own vehicle, and don’t have family members available to drive them to their appointments. In response, RSVP’s Car-Go Project offers free transportation for men and women age 55 and older in Blair and Fremont through volunteers age 55 and older who use their own vehicles. Free rides can be given to medical appointments, pharmacies, grocery stores, beauty parlors, barbershops, banks, and other personal business locations. Rides for persons who use wheelchairs (must be able to transfer themselves) will be considered. The Car-Go Project – which isn’t available to nursing home residents – operates in Fremont and Blair Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information on becoming a volunteer driver or to make a reservation (24 hours notice is required) for a ride, please call RSVP’s Fremont office at 402-721-7780.
Fire Department will install free smoke, carbon monoxide detectors
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work with children ages 8 to 15. • The Heartland Hope Mission needs volunteers for its food pantry. • The Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in west Omaha is looking for volunteers for a variety of assignments. • The Low-Income Ministry wants volunteers for its food pantry. • The Blair and Fremont Car-Go Program needs volunteers to drive older adults to their appointments once or twice a week.
93rd & Maple • 402-397-6921
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
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GET RID OF IT!
he Omaha Fire Department’s Public Education and Affairs Department can install free smoke and/or carbon monoxide detectors inside the residences of area homeowners. 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, Neb. 68134 For more information, please call 402-444-3560.
RSVP is recruiting men and women age 55 and older for a variety of opportunities. For more information in Douglas, Sarpy, and Cass counties, please call 402-444-6536, ext. 1024. In Dodge and Washington counties, please call 402721-7780. • The Corrigan Senior Center is looking for volunteers. • The Boys Town Hall of History needs volunteers. • The YWCA’s Reach and Rise Mentoring Program wants volunteers to
Cartagena Painting Service
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Managed by Kimball Management, Inc. PO Box 460967 Papillion, NE 68046 www.kimballmgmt.com We do business in accordance with the Fair Housing Law.
Law Offices of Charles E. Dorwart, J.D. 36 years of legal experience • Wills • Living Trusts • Probate • Healthcare and Financial Powers of Attorney • In-home consultations • Free Initial consultation 10104 Essex Court • Suite 100 Omaha, NE 68114 Office: (402) 558-1404 • Fax: (402) 779-7498 cdorwartjd@dorwartlaw.com
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Kroc Center offers exercise programs for its Fit n’ 50 Club By Jeff Reinhardt New Horizons Editor
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he sounds of the Aretha Franklin classic, Respect, pour out from the speakers as a group of older adults move gracefully in the shallow side (four feet of water) of a swimming pool that’s 25 yards long. It’s Aquacize time at the Salvation Army’s Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center, 2825 Y St. The class – that meets three mornings a week – is designed to improve joint flexibility, range of motion, and agility while building endurance and strength, according to its instructor Kim Murphy.
“You have to put forth effort to get results, but you need to have fun at the same time.” Murphy leads the group in a 45-minute series of movements that includes holding light weights under water to create resistance. Smiles appear on their faces as the students respond to Murphy’s instructions. “You have to put forth effort to get results, but you need to have fun at the same time,” Murphy says. Exercising in water is easier on your body, according to Julie Corbett, aquatics manager at the Kroc Center. “There’s no impact on your joints, so you can be as active as you want to be,” she says. Dianne Jones had hip replacement surgery four years ago. These days, she makes the 30-minute round trip from her home in north central Omaha to the Kroc Center
Dianne Jones (foreground), who had hip replacement surgery four years ago, drives from north central Omaha to the Kroc Center five days a week to exercise in the swimming pool. five times a week to exercise in the swimming pool. After the Aquacize sessions, Jones says she has more bounce in her step and she’s able to stand up straighter. ianne is among the more than 40 members of the Fit n’ 50 Club at the Kroc Center, a facility built on 15 acres in south Omaha’s former meatpacking plant district. The Fit n’ 50 Club offers a variety of free age-specific programs and services to Kroc Center members age 50 and older. A Kroc Center membership is $25 per month or $282 annually for people ages 62 and older or $35 per month or $394 annually for men and women ages 50 to 61. “The Fit n’ 50 Club is a community of friends that encourages
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one another to stay active and fit,” Corbett says. “We care about each other,” Jones says. Opened in 2009, the Kroc Center – which has more than 3,200 members of all ages – features a worship center, a performance and special events venue, an aquatics center, a Health & Fitness Department, a Sports & Recreation Department, as well as a place for arts and education classes. The facility is the result of a multi-million-dollar gift from Joan Kroc, the widow of McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc. Members of the local community raised additional funds for the center. “Our programs are designed to stimulate the mind, body, and spirit, to provide hope, and to transform the lives of our members,” Corbett says.
The Aquacize classes at the Kroc Center are designed to improve joint flexibility, range of motion, and agility while building the participants’ endurance and strength. As these smiling Fit n’ 50 Club members can attest, the sessions are also a lot of fun.
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The Aquacize, Aqua-joints (for people with arthritis or who are recovering from surgery), and Sunrise Splash (shallow water exercise) classes are part of a package of programs and services for older adults at the Kroc Center. To help them get started, new members can receive a free fitness evaluation, a balance assessment, and an equipment orientation. Weekdays from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m., Fit n’ 50 Club members can enjoy a variety of exercise programs including the water fitness classes outlined above, an extensive state-of-the-art fitness deck with an indoor walking track, and classes that include cycling, Tai Chi, and Zumba Gold. SilverSneakers classes – a free fitness program for older adults offered by many insurance plans – are also available. On Sundays, Kroc Center members can attend an adult Bible study, a family fellowship program, and a worship service. A variety of drop-in activities – open to all ages – are scheduled throughout the month. Creative arts classes and piano lessons are also available on specific dates and times. Corbett says anyone considering joining the Kroc Center is welcome to buy a day pass for $10. “This gives them a first-hand opportunity to see what benefits the center has to offer.” Sandy Andersen, the Kroc Center’s fitness manager, says before starting any exercise program, individuals of any age should check with their physician. The Kroc Center is open Monday through Thursday from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday from 1 to 6 p.m. For more information, please call 402-905-3500 and ask to speak with a guest services representative.