All Posts in "The Senior Scene"

Keep a toehold on healthy feet

(Pictured: Taking care of feet is important at any age. Photo credit: Natalie Board/Getty Images Plus)

Most people have a foot or ankle problem at one time or another. So how do you know when to seek help?

Many symptoms—even those you can tolerate—require the professional attention of a foot and ankle surgeon to keep the underlying condition from worsening. According to Danielle Butto, a board-certified surgeon and a Fellow Member of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons, foot health is an important part of overall health.

Here are five examples of when to make an appointment:

  • When you have diabetes. Living with diabetes means being more prone to conditions that affect the feet, including foot sores and ulcers. At the same time, diabetic nerve damage makes it harder to detect when there’s a problem. Regular visits to a foot and ankle surgeon should be part of a holistic diabetes treatment plan. The doctor can screen for the loss of protective sensations in the feet, as well as diagnose and treat issues leading to ulcers and wounds. Swelling, temperature and color changes in the feet, and calluses are all telltale signs an ulcer may be around the corner and warrant a trip to a foot and ankle surgeon.
  • When children experience pain. Early intervention is key to long-term, successful treatment. Foot and ankle surgeons stress that pain isn’t normal, and if it lasts more than a few days or is severe enough to limit a child’s walking, it should be evaluated. Foot problems commonly experienced by children include flat feet, ingrown toenails, and plantar warts.
  • When you’re at risk for falling. Falls are the leading cause of injury deaths among Americans 65 and older, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Painful foot conditions are a contributing factor, as they affect balance and coordination. Fortunately, many such conditions are treatable.
  • When you can benefit from medical advances. A loss of cartilage once meant a loss of functionality. Today, joint reconstruction with cartilage regeneration offers real hope for long-term functionality, nurturing the body’s own ability to heal itself—with a little boost from technology. Likewise, new surgical techniques for ankle arthritis, including arthroscopic ankle surgery, total ankle joint replacements and bone or cartilage replacement, are helping people stay active. Finally, platelet-rich plasma therapy can promote the healing of bones, cartilage, blood vessels, tendons and tissue for many patients, and is associated with easier recovery than traditional treatments.
  • When pain is sidelining you. It’s important to rest and recover rather than push through foot and ankle pain caused by an overuse injury. If the pain doesn’t improve in three to seven days, seek evaluation and treatment.

More information is at foothealthfacts.org, the patient education website of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons.

Source: StatePoint Media

The Senior Scene by — September 3, 2024 in Health & Fitness
Moon Festival puts out the welcome mat

(Pictured: Performers at last year’s Tacoma Moon Festival included the Sohoyini West African Dance Company. This year’s festival will be held Sept. 14.)

Tacoma Moon Festival is back this month for its annual cornucopia of entertainment and inclusiveness.

On Sept. 14 from 1 to 7 p.m., the event at Chinese Reconciliation Park on Ruston Way, on the shore of Commencement Bay, the festival will serve as the opening event of Tacoma Community House’s Welcoming Week, started in 2012 by Welcoming America, a non-profit movement of inclusive communities becoming more prosperous by ensuring everyone belongs, including immigrants. This year’s activities will celebrate immigrants who have completed the process of becoming new citizens. Join us as we honor and recognize them in their journey to citizenship!

The 2024 Tacoma Moon Festival puts a special focus on  Mexican and Latinx communities and traditions. Cultural entertainment will include Seattle’s Tlalokan indigenous Anahuac dance and music performers, Tacoma’s Sabor Flamenco performing Spanish and Cuban Flamenco dances, and the youthful Mariachi Almanueva and Mariachi de Pacifico de PLU with Mexican music.

Chinese culture will bookend the festival with the Mak Fai Lion Dance Association opening the festivities at 1 o’clock and the Hwa Sheng Chinese Opera Club at 6 in full makeup and costumes from famous scenes of Chinese opera.

Other performers include the Karisma Dancing Group (Vietnamese dance), Cambodian Classical and Folk Dance of the Northwest, and Guma Imahe (song and dance of the indigenous Chamorro people of the Mariana Islands).

The festival will close with a lantern parade at 6:45 p.m.

Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation, an organizer of the festival, is a non-profit organization that advances civic harmony. One way is through Reconciliation Park, a memorial to Chinese who were forcibly expelled from Tacoma in 1885. The park tells their story and encourages appreciation of diverse cultures as a way of building an inclusive community.

More information is at tacomacommunityhouse.org and welcomingamerica.org.

The Senior Scene by — September 3, 2024 in News
Her ‘most meaningful’ act is next

By Mary Lou Falcone                                                                                                                                    

I am 78 years young and starting a brand-new chapter – Act Three of my life. 

If you had told me in the mid-1960s (at age 20) that I was destined to experience three distinctly different careers in life, I would have been shocked.  In my wildest dreams, I never could have imagined what was in store. Because I trusted the universe and my reliable gut reaction, I got to experience life’s expansiveness, its richness and depth, along with its trying times.

Having been given the gift of a singing voice, I used it in my early years as a lifeline to express emotion when words weren’t possible. In my teens, I trained as a classical singer at the famed Curtis Institute of Music. Then came Act One of my adult life, performing in opera and concert.  During my 20s, I realized that the singing career was my entree to something else. But what? The path took some time, but Act Two became clear when, at 28, I made the bold decision to create a public relations business. 

While I loved performing, I didn’t need it; I did need to communicate. As fate would have it, the proverbial light bulb moment took place while performing with an opera company in the midwest. My curiosity lured me to the company’s public relations department. In my spare time between performances, maybe I could apprentice there? The company’s general manager had other ideas. “Why not just take over the national and international press representation of the company?”

Even though I knew nothing about PR, I was game to try. That “yes” parlayed into a successful business that has lasted 50 years. PR allowed me to communicate with passion and knowledge about music and artists, shining a spotlight on countless careers from Van Cliburn, Renée Fleming and James Taylor, to institutions like the Vienna Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, and LaScala.

Toward the end of Act Two, I began to wonder: Might there be an Act Three? While contemplating this notion, life took a turn that I didn’t see coming, laying the groundwork for that third act.

My soulmate, the artist Nicky Zann, was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia (LBD), a neurodegenerative disease for which there is no cure and which affects approximately 11 million people worldwide.  It is often misdiagnosed, as it mimics Alzheimer’s disease.

Caring for my beloved husband was a challenge and a gift.  The challenge was in being his sole caregiver during the pandemic, watching the person I loved most in this world slip away day by day. On the other hand, making Nicky’s impossible journey as positive as possible was a gift to me.

And Nicky gave me a parting gift.  He told me shortly before he died that I had to write. After he passed, I began to write about our love story and his illness. The writing has become a basic handbook, especially for caregivers and families.

Today, I have my third act: Advocate for LBD awareness. With the book as my calling card, I address groups of medical professionals, family members, and caregivers throughout the country, from the Mayo Clinic to the University of Nebraska Medical Center.  Additionally, I’ve expanded my advocacy for dementia awareness as an executive producer for the film, “Facing the Wind,” soon to be launched.

At 78, my third and probably most meaningful act energizes me and hopefully will inspire others. 

Mary Lou Falcone is the author of the memoir “I Didn’t See It Coming: Scenes of Love, Loss and Lewy Body Dementia.” More at www.maryloufalcone.com

The Senior Scene by — September 3, 2024 in Food, People

A new poll of U.S. adults on their financial well-being reveals contrasts between what they feel now and about the future.

According to the survey commissioned by the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE), 68 percent of respondents say the current quality of their financial life is what they expected or better, while 69 percent are at least somewhat concerned that their money will last through their later years.

Among other feedback, released in April, from the 1,222 adults nationwide who were polled by mail, phone and face-to-face interviewers: 

  • 53 percent felt they will never have the things they want in life because of money.
  • 62 percent are, to one degree or another, “just getting by” financially, and 33 percent rarely have money left over at the end of a month.
  • When asked about having money left over at the end of the month, 39% of respondents say that they do, 27 percent say they sometimes do and 33 percent say they rarely do. 

The poll was conducted by AmericSpeak, a program of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.

NEFE) is an independent financial-education advocate and researcher. Additional information is available at  www.nefe.org.

The Senior Scene by — September 3, 2024 in Personal Finance/Consumers