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Healthy Hudson ValleyOCTOBER 26, 2017 • ULSTER PUBLISHING • HUDSONVALLEYONE.COM Healthy Body & Mind

Elsie's longevityCommunity ties are a key to

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2 October 26, 2017Healthy Body & Mind|

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3October 26, 2017Healthy Body & Mind |

Retirement for the rest of us

It takes a community to grow old

By Fawn Potash

My mom hated retirement. She tried it. She didn’t have enough hobbies to keep busy. She found volunteer work boring. She begged her previous employers to re-hire her part-time.

After we moved mom from the big house where we grew up to a reasonably-sized apartment, she dug her heels in, determined to avoid further downsizing. No old-folks home for her. Mom would not even discuss plans for “someday” mov-ing to independent living, assisted living or a con-tinuum-of-care facility or a nursing home.

Though bridling at the concept that they are aging, older folks in general appreciate the secu-rity, services and companionship provided by the increasing range of opportunities being offered to seniors. The rise of the senior-care industry is having a big impact on the development of our na-tion’s economy. For a variety of reasons, aging in place can work for some seniors but not for all. Other arrangements are wonderful for some el-derly people but not for all. Fortunately, there are an increasing number of choices.

It turns out my mom was ahead of the curve. The trend for baby boomers in 2004 was aging in place — think wheelchair ramps and visiting nurses. By 2007 the objective had changed to aging in com-munity, a more holistic concept of a socially ac-tive and connected lifestyle. Now the term is more complex: thriving in an age-friendly community, with the support and services we need coming to us. In 2006 there were 37 million Americans over 65. In 2030 there will be 71.5 million of us. There are not enough senior living quarters for all of us.

My husband and I thought maybe there would

be niche-marketed options in the future. Some would be for people who like Dylan, the Beatles and Jerry Garcia’s trippy guitar solos. Some would be for people who don’t.

It turns out that there are specialized residenc-es for seniors like NoHo Senior Artists Colony (North Hollywood writers and actors), Lasell Vil-lage (integrated living on a college campus), hous-ing for Chinese Americans, Indian Americans

and co-housing communities like Serenbe outside Atlanta (planned community with mixed ages and caretaker cottages). These options are pricey, though, requiring a serious buy-in that doesn’t fit the modest budgets of renters and those without pensions or income-producing investments.

A community structure for aging The rest of us might consider the Village Move-

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ment, a retirement model that will sound familiar to small-town denizens who have depended on each other for carpooling, driving a neighbor to a doctor’s appointment, dropping off dinner for a sick friend, or pitching in on a community gar-den. Apply the proverb “It takes a village to raise a child” to seniors and you’ve got the idea of com-munal responsibility among people.

Start with a geographic area and a group of se-niors who want a self-governed, grassroots com-munity structure as they age. Most feature an annual membership payment, volunteer com-mitment, concierge services, social get-togethers, shared resources and discounts for member ser-vices. Sounds a little like joining your local arts council (which you should also do).

Villages report that shared transportation for medical and shopping trips, gatherings for book club, lunch, field trips to museums and gardens, plus other cultural excursions are the most popu-lar services. Also important is tech support for ev-erything from cell phones to computers and tab-lets to TV remotes, from navigating the Internet to getting the new Fitbit to work.

According to the Village to Village Network, there are over 200 Villages operating now and more than 150 in development in 42 states and

five countries. They are serving more than 40,000 people. The network’s map shows Villages in Ho-nolulu, Hawaii; Fairbanks, Alaska; Rhinebeck, New York (Rhinebeck at Home) and Glens Falls, NY (Aging in Place). Most are clustered on the east and west coasts of the nation.

How the movement grewThe Village Movement started in 2004 with a

group of neighbors in Boston’s Beacon Hill. In the course of a few years, they formed a core group of organizers, created a non-profit, and designed an organizational structure. Ages range from 56 to 98 years old, with an average age of 78. Of the 277 member Villages, 44 percent are household mem-berships paying $975 per year. The others are in-dividual memberships paying $675 per year. Thir-ty-two percent are men, 68 percent women (98 percent of whom live alone). Seventeen percent of memberships are reserved for low-to-moderate-income members at $110 to $160 per year.

The Village in Glens Falls serves a loosely de-fined region of the lower Adirondacks. Growing from a church group to the larger community, the

aging in place Village started out charging a dol-lar a month. It’s an all-volunteer structure using a utopian time-bank model. Members offer volun-teer hours and receive the same number of hours of volunteer services. For example, an older par-ticipant might provide friendly check-in calls for homebound members in exchange for rides to the grocery store.

Since it costs less to keep people in their homes than to pay for services within institutions, it comes as no surprise that New York State’s De-partment for the Aging is supportive of the Village movement.

The American Geriatric Society estimated that a quarter of Americans over 65 are physically or socially isolated, leading to physical and cogni-tive decline as well as shorter life spans. Some 69 percent of Americans will need long-term care, though only 37% of us think we will. The trick is to start thinking about our options way before we need them. And maybe even try to convince our parents to consider their preferences before they experience a debilitating medical crisis.

DION OGUST

The late Mescal Hornbeck of Woodstock, for whom her town’s community center is now named, was one of our region’s earliest and most vocal proponents of aging in place. She realized the benefi ts of growing old in the community one loves.

Track pets, kids and luggage

A new digital device is hitting the U.S. market soon that allows the tracking of one’s pet or child for up to one week. Called the Connect Tag, it’s being promoted by Samsung as the first use of a new narrowband network technology that optimizes data and battery usage for a week-long lifes-

pan before recharge, and uses a combination of GPS, Wi-Fi-based positioning and Cell ID to track location. The Connect Tag represents a step beyond other similar tracking items, including a luggage tracker being developed by the start-up Tile, the Apple Watch Series 2 Wi-Fi, tracking ability, the GPS-based Bluesmart luggage tracking device, and the Whistle 3 canine-companion tech. Plus it’s promising to be cheaper, espe-cially when it moves beyond initial Android-only compatibility.

Medicare’s alphabet soup

Confused by the Medicare Plan alphabet soup? Eleanor Minsky, Ulster County Office for the Aging outreach coordinator and retired attorney, will present about the complex choices available in the Medicare system in a free presentation on Thursday, November 2, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.

at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County (CCEUC) in Kingston Plaza.Topics will include ways to save money when purchasing prescription drugs, and a little-known federal

program that refunds Medicare premiums to financially eligible seniors. The event is being hosted by CCEUC’s Relatives as Parents Program (RAPP), which supports caregivers and children when parents are unavailable to parent. Respond to program outreach coordinator Maria Cecilia Deferrari at [email protected] or 340-3990, x347.

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Where to fi nd out more At a recent forum hosted by the Albany Guard-

ian Society, Greg Olsen, acting director of the New York State Office for the Aging, laid out a cross-sector plan for making New York an age-friendly state. Olsen incorporated an argument for economic development tied to the consider-able wealth controlled by the over-55 crowd. New York wants us to stay here, not head for the cheap real estate in North Carolina or Estonia.

A Powerpoint incorporated AARP’s “Eight Do-mains of Livability.” I recognized these categories from those lists of best places to retire on a bud-get:

1) Outdoor Space and Buildings2) Transportation3) Communication and Information4) Housing5) Respect and Social Inclusion6) Social Participation7) Civic Participation and Employment8) Community Support and Health Services. You can check out details of the state plan at

[email protected]. Villages both fit into this puzzle and address each goal in their organi-zations.

One village might have a full-time employee to staff the one-stop-shopping number for house-hold help, rides and activities. Another might have a rotating volunteer schedule for the hotline. Yet another might employ an independent contractor to give rides in a shared van. Other villages might share a cab ride to the grocery store.

Most have volunteer insurance to cover the un-expected. They carefully vet any recommended plumbers, carpenters, auto mechanics and other service people.

Village groups represent buying power and the ability to negotiate discounts for everything from chiropractic care to movie tickets and IT support. Mission statements have many common aims, from creating social networks and supports to redefining aging’s value to the community. Some new Villages have partnered with their local De-partment for the Aging, a visiting nurse associa-tion, a social-services agency or a continuum-of-care facility to share office space, activities or meals. At the Albany Guardian forum, Villagers’ presentations were a testament to our deep need to design and control our lives.

The Village-to-Village Network (vtvnetwork.org) is a great starting point for groups interested in developing new Villages. Membership includes the Village 101 Tool Kit which can also be pre-viewed at the Albany Guardian Society’s library at no cost. One of Albany’s oldest charities, the foun-dation was originally a temperance union. Now focused on quality of life for an aging population, it is sponsoring forums. There’s one on December

5 at thre Carondolet Center in Latham. You can contact Ken Harris, executive director

of the Albany Guardian Society, at 518-434-2140 or email him at ken.harris@albanyguardiansoci-

ety.org for details. For those wishing to jumping in with both feet, join the Village-to -Village an-nual conference on November 6 to 8 in Baltimore, Maryland. Register at vtvnetwork.org.

PHOTO COURTESY DUTCHESS COUNTY

Dutchess County executive Mark Molinaro, like many government leaders, is eager to demonstrate the ease of getting fl u shots at this time of year.

Longer ACA signup period

We’re all hearing disturbing things about the future of our health care. Federal enrollment for the Affordable Care Act marketplace is to run from November 1 through Decem-ber 15, half the time that was allowed last year. The website will go down Sundays for mainte-nance, and maybe at other times, according to the nonpartisan Kaiser Families Foundation.

It’s uncertain whether applications in the pipeline will be accepted able if they get caught by the dead-line. You may get saddled with a new insurance company if the one you were with via the marketplace has folded, or changed its rates drastically. You’ll only find out if you ask.

Where do things stand in New York State? On October 5, the state Department of Health announced that NY State of Health, the state’s official health plan marketplace, would be extending its open enrollment period from November 1 to January 31, 2018.

“Consumers in all counties of the state have a robust selection of health plans to choose from. New York expects to both renew coverage for more than 400,000 households during the open enrollment period and enroll new consumers. Most marketplace consumers qualify for financial assistance to pay for cover-age,” the Department of Health noted on its website. Premium costs for the most popular silver plan will be about the same or lower compared to last year, the state said.

Some counties are very good at hooking one up with a navigator quickly, and with actual phone and in-person help. Others aren’t so good. The best thing to do is get on the New York State of Health website immediately, or even better call the program at 855-355-5777, where a fully-staffed customer service center will work to hook up callers and navigators.

Paul Smart

Time to get your fl u shots

Flu season has begun with a bit of better-than-usual news.

Doctors are saying that this year’s vaccine is a good match for strains go-ing around, although the dominant strain seen so far is particularly dangerous to seniors. The end result is that the medical commu-nity is stressing flu shots more than ever. The strain showing up so far is H3N2.

The earlier one gets shots, the better. Try the website vaccinefinder.org to find the nearest location for getting shots, or check with your local paper on localized clinics.

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Big decisionsMedicating kids for mental-health issues

by Jennifer Brizzi

I’m like any other parent who has faced the possibility or reality of medicating their pre-teen for behavioral issues — and any mental illnesses severe enough to need medi-cine because of behavior problems, whether depression, withdrawal, hyperactivity, defi-

ance or more. These disorders are tough on the pre-teen, the family and the community at large. They require tough decision-making by the par-ents, with the input of teachers and health profes-sionals.

This is a hard piece for me to write. Neither a professional nor an expert, I have gone up against this issue with one of my children. As demanding and difficult as the job of parenting can be, the decision to medicate or not is exponentially more painful. Sometimes it seems that researching the

issue at length does little to help with the deci-sion-making. Online experts and parents have such wildly differing views. I’ve been left with the conclusion that there is no perfect solution for any family. Each situation is different.

Going through this experience has been truly awful. I know firsthand the guilt of feeling that it’s my fault and that I am inadequate in my parent-ing, plus the pain of feeling my kid’s pain at having trouble with school and authority figures. There is in addition the dip in self-esteem to deal with: in oneself, one’s co-parent, and one’s child.

When your kid is constantly getting written up for defiant behavior in school, for cursing, for not putting away the ear buds when ordered to, for getting in little scuffles with other boys, for not sitting still as a statue during a long day of classes, and paradoxically being deprived of gym or recess or extracurricular sports as punishment for that behavior. He’s a good kid and a sweet kid except when he’s having an age-appropriate tantrum. Lord knows I had plenty when I was his age.

It only makes it worse when there are any kind of learning difficulties. We finally stopped bring-ing our son to parent-teacher conferences because the team would always gang up on him with criti-cisms. It seemed counterproductive to have him there.

When life is seriously rough for your kid, and teachers and doctors advise medication, you dig in your heels and protest. You do not want to put your kid on drugs. It’s a last resort. You have heard horror stories about serious life-threatening side effects. You don’t want to turn your kid into a zom-bie. You don’t want to risk extreme symptoms, like depression, turning to suicidal behavior and other bad stuff we’ve all heard about.

Years ago a former co-worker had a nine-year-old daughter who was popular, bright and cheerful. She was prescribed

Paxil for a sudden bout of hyperactivity and be-havior changes. I don’t know the details. There

was an online article written about the family. Because the girl had lost a lot of weight appar-ently from hyperactivity, her parents took her to an eating disorder specialist in a nearby city who put her on the Paxil. After more manic behavior her parents hospitalized her, where they increased her meds.

When she came home she began to kick, bite, scratch and punch her parents. She tried to jump out of her second-floor window, and later tried to cut herself with a knife from the kitchen. She would hit her own legs until they bruised. Her parents would have to hold her down to keep her from hurting herself.

They decided to stop the medications and with the help of a pharmacologist started the withdraw-al process, slowly over a few months. Although she continued to have some behavior problems, the violence to herself and others subsided. She eventually went on to graduate from college and have a successful career. The parents blamed the meds for everything.

Another friend, my editor’s son, had problems with school that exacerbated his issues. A journey of changing schools and visiting various profes-sionals ensued.

In third grade the boy began to suffer regular detentions and balked at going to school. He even told his parents he wanted to kill himself, some-thing beyond distressing for any parent to hear. A difficult teacher or school can make a bad situ-ation much worse. Because of alleged behavior is-sues that led to detentions, an IEP (Independent Education Plan) was put in place for the boy, al-lowing him to move around a bit during the day instead of sitting for hours.

He was given some slack about his handwriting. He was placed in a remedial reading class whose in-structor found that he was reading at a sixth-grade level rather than the third grade he was in. School social services tested the boy and sent him to a neu-rologist, who found super-mild ADHD consistent with many boys his age and prescribed a med for

PUBLIC DOMAIN PHOTO

After years of treating student hyperactivity with various medications, a new movement has started toward changing the way we educate kids, working more thoughtfully with their natural behavior.

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Editorial

WRITERS: Jennifer Brizzi, Elisabeth Henry,

Ann Hutton, Fawn Potash, Carrie Jones Ross,

Chris Rowley, Paul Smart

EDITOR: Paul Smart

LAYOUT: Joe Morgan

Cover: Elsie Leininger, who has been living at Mountain

Valley Manor, an assisted living facility on Wilbur Avenue in

Kingston, was 103 years old when this photo was taken in

October 2013. She lived in place until she was 100. She’s

now 106. (Photograph by Peter Demuth)

Ulster Publishing

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ADVERTISING DIRECTOR: Genia Wickwire

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PRODUCTION MANAGER: Joe Morgan

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CLASSIFIED ADS: Amy Murphy, Tobi Watson

CIRCULATION: Dominic Labate

Healthy Body & Mind is one of four Healthy

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Healthy Body & MindOctober 2017

An Ulster Publishing publication

his tics which made him sleepy and headachy. The parents started looking into alternative

schools. After a semester at a new private school, all his meds were stopped, and tics or restless be-havior such as twitchy fingers were left for him to handle. Other parents at the school reported that a lot of the kids at his school had similar experi-ences after going off the medication they had been pushed into in public schools.

Many parents, of course, have reported that problems stemming from major fidgeting, bad grades, fighting, insubordination or repeated sus-pensions have led them to seek help and to subse-quently medicate their kids.

My own kid’s dad and I considered putting him in a new school. The connections with new situa-tions have not been satisfactory for him or for us. He is rather resistant to leaving his friends behind.

The medication issue is polarizing. Some

parents feel medication has been a godsend that transformed their difficult children

into calm, subdued, high-grade-earners. Many teachers and even physicians push parents in this direction after a diagnosis based on a question-naire about the child’s behavior.

The opposite camp feels that it is normal for pre-teens to be emotionally and behaviorally out of whack for a while. They say ADHD is way over-diagnosed. Fidgety, hyperactive behavior is a nor-mal reaction to several hours of forced sitting still, they say. They contend that parents who choose to medicate their kids are only doing it for their own convenience. Or they purport that the meds in-troduce harmful toxins into little bodies that can cause violent behavior, seizures, heart problems or stunted growth, as well as suicidal intent.

Some prefer other routes. They favor interven-tions like a drastic change in diet (such as elimi-nating sugar, dyes, gluten, dairy, yellow foods (!) or toxins), or just upping their children’s exercise time or adding omega-3s and probiotics to their diet. Some try alternative healthcare like biofeedback.

Then there are those of us who are sort of in the middle. We feel that every kid and every family is a unique situation, and there is no right or wrong solution. Every affected parent has to wrestle with their situation individually. We feel that it’s impor-tant for struggling parents to seek help to supple-ment the opinions of school staff. The input of an experienced physician, a pharmacologist, a child neurologist, therapist or psychiatrist may be indi-cated when making this most crucial of decisions.

Mental disorders in children are very com-


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mon, as is the prescription of medications to ease them. About five million kids in this country have been diagnosed with serious mental illnesses, per WebMD. ADHD is the most common, ahead of depression and anxiety (which may accompany it). Counseling or the support of friends, and oth-er stress-relieving activities may also be useful for the frazzled parents.

My own child was on medication for

ADHD for a couple of time periods when he was younger. The first time was at the

urging of school staff. We had not told them that he had begun taking the meds. It came up at a special ed meeting a few months later. It appeared they hadn’t noticed any change in his behavior until after we told them he was taking the meds. One of the staff then said, “Oh. yeah, I guess he has been doing better.”

We administered the meds only on school days. He never took them willingly, saying they made him feel “weird.” Eventually we let him stop taking them.

After a rough few years in school he is doing better now. He’s in tenth grade. There are fewer calls from the principal. His report cards now tell us that he’s a pleasure to have in class.

I don’t know what prompted the change, Did he make more of an effort to control his defiant be-havior, or did he simply grow out of it? This issue is a difficult one. I cannot claim to be anti-med or pro-med. I can just tell you to follow your heart and know that you are not alone.


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Numbing ourselves forward

Alcoholism and mental disorders are on the rise

by Ann Hutton

Addiction and mental illness

were once considered aberrant de-fects, and people suffering from them were often locked in asylums. Treatments changed as prescribed pharmaceuticals relieved symp-

toms and altered behavior. But now alcoholism and mental disorders are again on the rise. The number of incarcerated Americans has soared, and federal statistics show that half of the nation’s prisoners have diagnosable mental disorders.

Consider statistics gathered from research orga-nizations such as the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism, the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University, the National Alliance on Mental Health, the Anxiety and De-pression Association of America, the American Psychological Association, the Centers for Dis-ease Control and Prevention, and the National Institute for Mental Health. They say nearly one of every 20 adults worldwide is addicted to alco-hol. One out of every eight Americans now strug-gles with an alcohol-use disorder. Such disorders have risen by almost 50 percent since 2002, and now affect nearly 30 million Americans. Alcohol-use disorders have doubled among the African-American population, and have increased nearly 84 percent among women.

The highest increase in alcohol-use disorders has occurred in the senior population, with in-dividuals 65 and older seeing a staggering 106.7 percent increase from 2003 to 2013. For 45-to-65-year-olds, that increase was 81.5 percent.

Globally, more than 300 million people suf-fer from depression, and 260 million suffer from anxiety disorders. In America, one in five adults experience mental illness in a given year — that’s 43.8 million of us. And approximately 10.2 mil-lion adults have co-occurring mental-health and addiction disorders.

Denise Ranaghan of the Mental Health Asso-ciation of Ulster County has looked at the con-nection between alcoholism and mental illness for a growing number of people in our society. “Trauma,” she says. “I think we’re talking about the wrong subject. The subject is not mental ill-ness. It’s not addiction. It’s trauma.” She counsels in Adult Wellness Services and ACT (Assertive Community Treatment).

“People don’t even know they’re traumatized, that they’ve experienced violence and pain,” ex-plained Ranaghan. “We live in a violent culture right now. I don’t know anyone who gets through childhood without some form of trauma, even if you have the best parents in the world. You are go-ing to be traumatized, even if it’s watching other people being traumatized. To be in touch with that, I think we should be teaching emotional in-telligence from kindergarten up.”

Nineteen of every 20 people in the mental-health system have experienced trauma,” she said. “We are completely traumatized every day, so we numb out to it. And what is alcohol addiction? Something that numbs you out a little bit more. The question of what came first — the addiction or the mental illness — has always been around. I really believe environment plays a huge role in people’s subsequent mental illness or subsequent addiction. So much depends on your personality and your family and your school.”

Once you pick up the drink or the drug, you stop growing emotionally, she said. The alcohol pushes your trauma down deeper, and it numbs you out to violence, because who wants to feel pain? Peo-ple are wounded, and they can’t heal because they continue to numb out. “We focus on the addiction, because that’s what is obvious and visible,” she said. “What’s not visible is everything that came

before the addiction — all the trauma and sup-pression and pushed down thoughts and feelings.”

Alcoholism is typically defined by looking at self-reported drinking habits. Among the criteria for diagnosis are whether the drinking interferes with home, family, or job responsibilities, whether the subject experiences withdrawal symptoms when coming down from intoxication, and the in-ability to stop drinking. Studies also track other patterns like high-risk drinking (four or more drinks a day for women and five for men, plus a day that exceeds those limits at least once a week).

Scientific research into brain functioning has begun to uncover how addiction occurs on the neurological level. We are chemically hard-wired, it seems, to seek pleasure. Synaptic pathways in the brain actually reward the body and reinforce desire when our circuits are bathed in substances like heroin or gin. And we now have a detailed pic-ture of how overuse disrupts other processes, such as learning, emotional regulation, and cognition. Antonello Bonci, a neurologist at the National In-stitute on Drug Abuse, calls addiction “a patho-logical form of learning.”

Two addiction treatment camps of thought have emerged. One addresses the faulty chemistry or wiring of the addicted brain through medication or other techniques, with psychosocial support as an adjunct. The other sees medication as the ad-junct, a way to reduce craving and the agony of withdrawal, while allowing people to do the psy-chological work essential to recovery. Both camps agree that current treatment often falls short — perhaps because both modes of implementing a fix are not recognized as being equally important.

A comprehensive course of treatment is most likely to help people in need. According to Ranaghan, trauma is stored in a certain part of the brain that is basically unreachable through talk therapy alone. She pointed to the difficul-ties adolescents face on a good day, simply going through puberty and looking for answers to their problems, typically through their peers.

“I’ve been working in trauma-informed care,” she said. “There’s a new model in New York City

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for kids who experience their first psychotic break, called On Track. Instead of immediately drugging them, other peers who have also had psychotic breaks work with them to help them get through it. The message is not, You’re gonna be sick for the rest of your life and you need these medications. The message is, Medication is one tool. Maybe you need it for awhile.”

At Family of Woodstock, Salvador Al-

tamirano-Segura works in adult case man-agement for individuals struggling with

substance abuse or mental-health issues. How does the organization deal with someone whose challenges also involve the criminal-justice sys-tem, homelessness, or being a victim of domestic violence?

“We try to bring some awareness to how the cli-ent’s addiction might be affecting or disaffecting their life. It depends on where the person is at,” Altamirano-Segura responded. “Some people are tired of their addiction and want to make changes. Or they’re not there yet. They cannot see how it’s a problem or are not willing or open to suggestion. It also depends on what substance they’ve been using, whether we refer them to the emergency room for detox or to outpatient treatment.”

People who have a mental disorder feel that they are not normal. “There’s a lot of stigma, a lot of difficulties to accept the fact. They just feel weird about not fitting in with their family and friends or society. It’s not uncommon that they would self-medicate, using alcohol to take them out of those feelings and not think about things. Soon enough that becomes a crutch, but in a way they’re trying to medicate the illness or disorder. Next thing they’re fully addicted and it’s all enmeshed — what do you treat first, the mental health or the substance abuse?”

Altamirano-Segura described Family’s use of an interactive tool for developing criminal-jus-tice and mental-health partnerships. “You have law enforcement and human-services agencies, with probation involved, individuals from the jail, police officers, the department of mental health from HealthAlliance, and other agencies,” he said. “We’re very aware that many times individuals who are acting out end up in jail because of men-tal disorders or substance abuse.”

The team looks for how to de-escalate situa-tions. Many police officers have taken training in reference to mental health. The police officer comes, and the individual becomes violent. “We’re looking at ways to intervene and provide services instead of punishment, in all aspects of an action,” he said. “Even up to jail and when the person comes out of jail, what can we do to prevent them from going back? We have monthly meetings to discuss progress, and we work with other groups also — a housing group, a transition group.

At the shelters, there has been a tremendous increase in heads of households having a men-tal- health diagnosis like severe depression, bipo-larity, schizophrenia or adjustment disorder. It’s increased a lot in the past decade, with a lot of fac-tors involved: diet, medication, loss of community, people have to work, kids are not as supported as they used to be. “Less push for community and more push for individuality,” Altamirano-Segura said. “A lot of things play into it.”

Ranaghan trusts the World Health Or-

ganization’s statistics that indicate 50 to 80 percent of individuals diagnosed with men-

tal illness have a history of early trauma prior to the onset of the illness. Most addicts have a history of trauma prior to the onset of the addiction: ge-netics, predisposition, environment, the role mod-

els you have in your life, the school systems, peer pressure. “You have to look at the whole person, at everything in that person’s life,” she said. “You can take the chemical away, and you might still have the addictive behavior — which is a block, a barrier to you becoming the person you were born to be.”

The current epidemic of opioid addiction, with its tragic increase in deaths by overdose, is also calling attention to the need for intervention and treatment rather than immediate incarceration for people caught in the snare of drug possession and abuse. But possession of alcohol is not illegal. On the contrary, it’s socially accepted, promoted and encouraged. People who drink excessively don’t get confronted in the same ways that illicit substance users do, unless their abuse of alco-hol threatens immediate harm to others, such as when they drive intoxicated.

It has taken that research in neuroscience to lessen debilitating self-assessments — the humilia-tion and dishonor attached to alcoholism that pre-vents people from seeking treatment. As alcohol-ism continues to be reframed as an illness rather than a moral defect, people suffering from alcohol disorders are more readily able to work on it.

The basic answer is always the same, asserted Ranaghan: “You need to start with safety. People need to feel safe. In groups at the Mental Health Association, we try to establish safety. How do you get people to the place where they can even handle it? The work can’t happen in a hierarchi-cal model. It has to happen in a circle. It’s about shared power between professionals and the peo-ple in treatment. And you have to deal with the heart, the mind, and the body.”

Just use another sponge

A study published in the journal SCIENTIFIC Reports this past summer builds off a German study that undertook DNA analysis of kitchen

sponges and found 362 kinds of bacteria. Researchers university analyzed 14 different kitchen sponges and found that they harbor even more bacteria than a toilet. Because sponges are mostly moist and designed for absorption, they have the potential to pick up bacteria like salmonella, E. coli, and staphylococcus.

In order to conduct the study, researchers used a method called DNA pyrosequencing to study the DNA of 28 samples of bacteria collected from 14 different kitchen sponges taken from private households. They discovered 118 genera of bacteria, most of which were not harmful. However, some were pathogens that could cause infections among humans.

Sponges were also deemed capable of spreading bacteria in places where it was not previously present. The study further found that cleaning a used sponge results in almost an equal amount of bacteria as the unclean ones had. Their recommended solution is to replace sponges weekly.

Changing antibiotics protocols

For years, the small print on antibiotics packaging was adamant. Take the full recommend-

ed dose, whether feeling better or not. Now that old standby is eroding. A recent British study suggests that there isn’t evidence to support the need to complete an entire course of antibiotics.

Further, the study reminds us that antibiotic use in general needs to be cut. The problem of antibiotic resistance is growing to epidemic proportions. The recommendation is to stick with what your doctor says, but to feel free to ask whether what’s being prescribed is specifically for you.

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Giggle juiceAnnalee Orsulich homebrews Mojo tonic to combat brain-tumor eff ects with a sweet buzz

By Carrie Jones Ross

Late in 2016 Annalee Orsulich of

Saugerties was diagnosed with a be-nign brain tumor the size of a golf ball — a dangerous condition that literally knocks her off her feet at times. A sin-gle parent with responsibility for a tod-

dler, Orsulich felt particularly vulnerable. She was unable physically to return to her previous life in the restaurant industry.

Orsulich’s condition, diagnosed in 2016, quickly led to unsteady footing, dizziness and eventual strokes.

Having studied herbal medicine while living in Bahia, Brazil, Orsulich thought to revisit a root

herb, muriapuama, a nervous system stimulant used by natives for those recovering from pa-ralysis. Orsulich decided to recreate a potion she drank one day in Brazil when she was exhausted, and in need of energy. The root herb was com-bined with catuaba, a mood elevator and a known aphrodisiac (an assertion not backed by the Food and Drug Administration, Orsulich added), also used for depression. The concoction included guarana seed, a stimulant with more than twice as much natural kick as caffeine.

“I ended up going for this run, and walked around stores,” she said. “I was intrigued by the product. I ran home, changed my clothes, took a dance class, and marveled what this stuff was.”

The concoction is consumed as a tea in many regions of Brazil, she explained. “The native popu-lations would consume it when they went to war, while on hunts, and at other times they needed endurance.” The buzz lasts about four to eight hours. The potion, Orsulich found, offered her more sustainable energy than coffee, which she characterized as “a straight up-and-down.”

Orsulich brewed it. Each herb was given its own distillation process before the ingredients were

combined. Mojo & Co Roots Tonic was born. She experimented with the brew. “People have

very different tastes,” she explained. “It tastes like a sweet tea. Some people think it’s delish, and some people think it’s too intense. I started mak-ing different batches with the sweetness dialed down.”

Citric acid derived from raw cane sugar is the sweetener. She recommended adding seltzer, or using the tonic as a cocktail mixer. Some people prefer the buzz straight-up. In Brazil, she said, it is consumed as a shot.

“The tonic helped me kick my addiction to cof-fee, and I noticed it elevated my mood because every time I drank it I had the giggles,” said Orsu-lich’s sister, Mona Orsulich of Beacon, the tonic’s first customer.

“I had this dream and vision,” said Annalee Or-sulich, “and part of me was even like, Can I do this? But my sister Mona had a great feeling about it. Having one person believe in it made it possible.”Mona had other ideas, too. “I foresee an expan-sion of the product line and getting the prod-uct into boutique markets, while gearing up for statewide and eventually national sales,” she said.

CARRIE JONES ROSS

Annalee Orsulich faced down her health challenges by searching out and concocting her own Mojo tonic. Talk about the old adage about turning lemons into lemonade!


Mojo & Co Roots just had its grand opening a few weeks ago. Orsulich said she recently met with a local small-business expert who advised her to expand the product line to include several herbal blends, and to sell herbal tea sachets. Orsulich hopes to do exactly that.

The bottle advises three servings per twelve-ounce bottle — about a half-cup — daily.

“Sip a little bit, see how you feel. But maybe

don’t drink it at 4 p.m., and drink it like you would drink coffee,” she said. “My husband didn’t believe me about the effects this drink has. He drank it. Then he cleaned out my car, cleaned out my en-gine, and then swept the side of the house.”

Orsulich spoke about how she can feel the nerve “zapping” back in her face from the tonic, like “shooting pain in my teeth after I drank the left-over tea.” She thinks it’s helped considerably with

her facial paralysis. The tonic has also helped “lift her spirits” and given her hope.

“My biggest dilemma was how to preserve this without alcohol,” Orsulich went on. “I do a ‘hot-fill’ process: I fill the bottles at 180 to 190 degrees, and it seals like it is being canned.”

The product is shelf-stable, but the label says it must be refrigerated. She has not gone through the rigors of a governmental certification process.

The price point of the product is still being worked out, but it will retail between seven and nine dollars. Tonic is now available at Duo Pantry in Kingston. For information, visit mojoroots.com.

Chocolate is good for you

Italian researchers have completed the largest analysis ever done on how eating chocolate

affects the human brain. They examined both long- and short-terms effects, looking at what happens to your brain in the minutes after eating chocolate as well as what happens when you consume chocolate every day for years. The result? Experts at the University of L’Aquila recommend eating dark chocolate on a daily basis. Why?

In the study, participants who ate dark chocolate had a better working memory within hours of consump-tion, quickly improving their scores on memory tests and being able to follow verbal instructions more accurately. They were also able to compensate for lost sleep faster, and older participants found they were able to slow mild cognitive impairment, especially in regards to memory. Researchers also discovered that dark chocolate lessened inflammation, reduced stress, and helped prevent heart disease.

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by Chris Rowley

To live well and enjoy life, we

need to exercise. We evolved on the plains of East Africa two million years ago as “the running ape.” Before civi-lization, we spent part of every day in the search for food and water, roam-

ing over a territory that we sometimes also de-fended from other human groups. We took care of children, built and maintained shelters, made clothing, and fashioned stone tools. Obesity was a very rare condition in those days, but going by the fossils, our ancestors were strong people who lived active lives.

To be healthy we have to be active. Modern life-styles are often inactive, filled with too many of the wrong kinds of calories. We needn’t go to the point of running marathons or climbing mountains, but we should working up a sweat and breathe hard. To do this we can swim, run, bike, hike up moun-tains. An aggressive approach to housework, vacuuming, scrubbing the tub, can do the trick, too. Yardwork is great as well, especially if it’s vig-orous enough to make you sweat. Walk the dog, and hey, get the dog moving quickly, too. Jog. Better for both of you.

Our exercise needs should be tailored to our age. We aren’t the same critters at 60 that we were at six. We change with the years. It’s worth taking a look at the guidelines and recommendations given today for in-teresting advice and suggestions.

Today, scientists agree broadly that children should be running and jump-ing around for at least 60 minutes a day. Muscles other than those in their thumbs and their mouths should be in use. What they do during those 60 minutes is relatively unimportant. It just should be active play.

Sports, can, of course, provide fun and all the aerobics needed. Basketball and soccer are great outdoor or indoor games for kids of almost any age. Indoor soccer? Use the Futsal ball and unleash your child’s inner Ronaldo.

Exercise goes beyond games, of course, to run-ning, dancing, riding a bike, martial-arts practice, and the basics like situps, pushups and simple gymnastics. And, of course, children should play tag, climb trees, use the swings and slides and ev-erything else at the playground. They should also learn to swim.

In later adolescence, some teens may move on to sport-appropriate exercises, including lifting weights, kettleball and other core builders, and competitive running, jumping and throwing. This is best done under supervision to prevent injury. Even if teens do not take up a sport, they should run, swim and continue the basic exercises.

We peak in our twenties when we

reach maturity, and begin gradually to decline physically. Nature has loaded us

for the reproductive role, and following that, a

life spent providing for our children and for early man, alas, an early death. Very few of us out there in the wild reached the age of 60. To-day’s 60 is the new 40, and if you take action it can really feel like that.

The kind of ex-ercise regime you need doesn’t change much from 18 to late middle age. About five hours a week of aerobic or cardio exercise is the bedrock. You can run, swim, bike, play basketball or tennis, attend aero-bics classes at a gym, or do some of each. You can even count yardwork or housework if you do it hard and fast enough. Getting your heart rate up is what counts. If you can work in a couple of sessions a week with weights,

do your situps and so on, even better. You will re-tain more muscle mass and not gain so much flab.

At age 40 men start to lose testosterone, and with it goes five to eight percent of their muscle mass, decade by decade. Women, also begin to lose muscle in their forties. And about this point, many people stop exercising. Life is hectic, it’s hard to find the time. Some experts recommend taking up a new sport at this point, like say pick-leball. Some of those determined to stay young do endurance running on obstacle courses, the world of Tough Mudders and Spartan races. The idea is to give yourself a challenge, learn something new. Cross-country skiing is another excellent outlet for those confronted with months when the out-doors is less inviting for other activities.

Stretching and yoga are very important as well, keeping those muscles flexible and free of strains and pains. Indeed, a gym session on Monday and a yoga session on Tuesday, with running on Wednesday and more yoga on Thursday is the way to go. Swim on Friday and run again on Saturday, and then go to the gym and lift weights for a half-hour. Every day should have some activity that

is part of your exercise regimen, keeping you in shape as the years roll on.

Folks over 40 definitely need weekly sessions with weights. Nothing extreme, never overdo it. Don’t hurt yourself. Try to work all the muscles in your arms, shoulders, thighs, butt and core. What is key with workouts in middle age is learn-ing not to push too far too fast. Avoid injuries. If you haven’t exercised in a while, take it easy. Work with a trainer at the gym. Stay within your limits as slowly increase them. If you injure yourself, you won’t be able to run or work out.

Now to your sixties and beyond. If you’ve

been keeping it going, getting out on your bike and swimming or skiing, then you’ve

earned some protection from heart disease or dia-betes. If you’re in good enough shape, continue to run, to do pushups, to swim laps, and to take your bike up and down some hills. It is more impor-tant than ever to keep up the aerobic exercise. Get in two or three sessions every week with muscle-strengthening exercises.

As we age, the bones become more fragile. Take the right kind of calcium supplements and eat your greens. Tendons and ligaments are also less supple and therefore more vulnerable, so be protective of them. At this point, going over ob-stacle courses is probably not the best idea. Per-haps shorten the distance you run regularly. Take it down a little, slow the pace. Swim more, run less. As long as you push your heart to work hard, you’re still getting the benefits.

In our senior years past 70, keep up your strength. You need flexibility more than ever, and your sense of balance is vital. If you’ve been following a strong regimen, you will be enjoying the benefits now.

But this is also the time to start switching over to more protective forms of aerobic exercise. Aquasize classes in a pool are something to look for. And now is when yoga pays off even more, be-cause flexibility in these years boosts your ability to keep up your aerobic program.

Make exercise a regular part of your life. Treat it as essential as food, and you can remain physically active and probably healthy well into your later years. Just look at Supreme Court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg doing pushups in her 80s.

Unfortunately, most people do not see exercise that way. A recent study by the National Institutes of Health showed that only a quarter of Americans between 65 and 75 exercise regularly. Only eleven percent of those 85 and more said they did. Sadly, the quality of life for those who don’t exercise de-teriorates steadily to the point where they can do little more than sit in a chair all day. Your golden years don’t have to be that way, but to avoid that fate you have to make the effort. It’s best to do it all life long.

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As we age, exercise is often best handled in group settings, where we can attain the benefi ts of socializing along with physical activity.

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Exercise habits need to be instilled while we are young. We all know how tempting the couch and channel changer can be.


Winter is comingThe best health tip is to prepare thyself

By Elisabeth Henry

The harvest moon

wanes over fields to reveal golden-orange orbs amid the blackened wraiths of with-

ered pumpkin vines in the soft mist of autumn mornings. Monarch butterflies cling to the late blooms of Echinacea, New York aster and sneezeweed. Deer are wary. Likewise, tur-key. The woolly bear could say the coming season will be mild, but she might as easily say “Be-ware!” No matter what she says, the smart money is on the sure thing, which is that winter is coming. Get ready.

The popular thought is that this is the time of plenty: the yield. But it is with unease we reckon the peaches are gone, the frying peppers are gone, the arugula and the asparagus, gone. Been gone.

Well, okay. We’ll make do with the apples and pears and potatoes and carrots, all sorts of squash and beets and other root crops. Kale and garlic keep.

That’s the operative word. We must think about what keeps, what saves us from want, because win-ter brings want.

I don’t know about you, but when winter brings want I want cookies. I don’t know whether it’s the absence of color, the grey skies, the bare earth, the cold metal of door knobs and steering wheels. I just know I suffer from Seasonal Whinging Disorder, with its attending digestive symptoms.

All through July and August I reach for the Queen of Fruit, watermelon. Bring on the solstice and ev-erything switches. Deer are like that. They can’t digest grasses in cold weather. One winter, a gov-ernment agency dropped liberal quantities of hay throughout the wild regions to stave off starvation in the deer population. The deer died anyway, and necropsy revealed their stomachs packed firm with undigested hay.

So extreme begins my yen for little, buttery baked concoctions of oats, chocolate chips and walnuts on All Hallow’s Eve that if I were assigned to a sen-sory deprivation tank for years at a time I could yet remain spot-on in getting out my greeting cards (assuming someone was willing to stop off at the post office for me.) No matter how heavenly it may seem, eating only crispy, chewy, luscious cookies is not healthy. Not even if they are free of the trend-of-the-moment. Like gluten. Not even if they are chock-full of that ancient Mayan secret to a long life and sound mind, chocolate. But that knowledge does not stop me from wanting to exist on cookies from solstice to solstice.

This biological imperative must be managed, es-pecially now. At my age. You see, the genesis for this piece was a question from my much-younger editor person who asked if I’d like to do a piece on “prepar-ing oneself for winter, which,” he said, “is like prepar-ing oneself for aging.” Winter. Want. Aging.

Are you reaching for wine or Prozac yet? How about a cookie?

Enough about that. There is much to do

and the time is now. See to your chimneys! Make sure your stacks are free of creosote, etc.

Did you get your wood in? It’s a good idea to mix up the menu. Pine burns fast and hot, but leaves no coals. Oak and cherry are good for overnight. Gather kindling. Doing that insures quick fires in the morning chill, and cleans up the property. Try, in the future, to remember to order fuel in the sum-mer when prices are cheap. There may still be time for that, but earlier is better.

Make sure all heating systems are in good work-ing order. Trust that, come January, you will notice drafts coming beneath doors and through windows.

I suppose a panoramic view justifies putting on sweaters in lieu of stodgy, insulated curtains, but we can all live with those stuffed rolls of fabric that lie, serpent-like, against door sills. They work.

Kindling isn’t the only thing to gather up. Be sure to pick up and put away all the accoutrements of summer before the first snowfall. If you use rain bar-rels, empty them now before they freeze and crack. Clear everything away from beneath the eaves, or you may find your pretty lawn chairs flattened when the snow melts in spring. Put your sand or ice melt near doors or walk ways. Likewise, snow shovels.

I just cut my last rose of summer. Every year

this particular plant produces a final, single, ten-der, pink bloom. Melancholy, I know. But it’s also

a pretty signal to remove all the old plant debris from the garden beds. I bag it up and take it to the dump. I compost other things, but I’m not sure the heat levels in my compost get high enough to kill any leftover spores or disease.

Now is the best time to apply compost and lime. It’s also a good idea to put down some grass seed. The warm days of this autumn, coupled with cool nights, create a good growing environment for grass. Have your soil tested. Your local cooperative extension will do this for you.

Don’t discard fallen leaves. Make piles to decom-pose into leaf litter, or use the shredder application in your leaf blower to chop the leaves and put that directly in your garden. Fallen leaves are packed with nutrients. Divide spring-blooming and late-blooming plants.

Let purple coneflower, black-eyed Susans, sun-flowers, and other plants with seeds and berries stand. Birds feed from them in winter. Especially leave any local, native plants standing for local wildlife. Leave hiding spots for beneficial insects like spiders, solitary bees, ladybugs and beetles. They rely on logs, brush piles or dead groundcover to overwinter in. Leaving arugulas or brassica vege-tables in the ground, including cabbages, kale, broc-coli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and radishes can attract and then kill off harmful pests. For example, the plants attract nuisance wireworms, but as the plants decompose in the spring they release cyanide compounds that will kill off the worms.

If frost hasn’t hit yet, consider cover crops. Cover crops, a.k.a. green manure, build healthy soil, beat back weeds, and serve as aids in pest and disease control. You should plant fall cover crops at least four weeks before the frost. You can plant cereal rye cover crops up until a frost.

You will begin to hear rustling and nest-

ling in your walls. Most likely it is mice. Or it could be squirrels. Very rarely, if your house

is built on a slab, or your porch has a crawl space, it could be porcupines, woodchucks, or yes, skunks.

What you do about it is your business. In these PETA-fever times, I dare not call upon recollections of past cures here. However, I rely heavily on the two

stone-cold killers that call my place home, Boo Radley and Cheddar the Cheese. So expert on these two, often working in tan-dem, that my mind is freed up for other things.

Get the woolens out of storage. Buy ice crampons. Put away your damned clogs. I love ‘em, but they are deadly on ice. My friend Sally lost teeth when she trotted on to her frozen driveway when wearing them. I foolishly ran down to my barn wearing mine one frigid afternoon, and suffered a brutally bruised coccyx for weeks.

Buy lip balm and hand cream. Stand out in the sun, especially important if you have blonde or red hair. Oh, sure, brag about your Neanderthal heritage, but just know the purpose of the pigment is to allow you to absorb Vitamin D through your scalp. You may want to pick up one of those mood-enhancing light bulbs for when the days, and your attitude, get really dark.

Pick up candles and water. Smarmy ra-dio hosts make fun of people dashing to the store to stock up on supplies ahead of a

blizzard, but for us, keepers of wells, it’s necessary. No power. No water. And we will need hot chocolate then, more than ever!

Keep an empty bucket handy. You can still use your toilet when the power goes off and the well stop running. Fill the bucket with snow. Let it melt. Voila! You can flush! Just don’t touch the toilet han-dle until the well pump is working again.

Make sure your plow is working and chains are on the tires of your pick-up. You should have already hired someone to plow for you, if you can’t do it your-self. Don’t wait until last minute for that. You’ll be ma-rooned and very cash-poor if you put it off.

There is a hell of a lot to do, so get crack-

ing. Once the momentum builds, you will feel energized (young!), as though you are taking

on a fierce foe and winning. Winter can seem that way. Like a foe.

Most of these suggestions seem to come out of an urgency to take steps to work against winter, but ul-timately they allow us to survive in order to open up to it, to how it helps us feel our aliveness.

The snowbegan herethis morning and all daycontinued, its whiterhetoric everywherecalling us back to why, how,whence such beauty and whatthe meaning; suchan oracular fever! flowingpast windows, an energy it seemedwould never ebb, never settleless than lovely! and only now,deep into night,it has finally ended.The silenceis immense,and the heavens still holda million candles, nowherethe familiar things:stars, the moon,the darkness we expectand nightly turn from. Treesglitter like castlesof ribbons, the broad fieldssmolder with light, a passingcreekbed liesheaped with shining hills;and though the questionsthat have assailed us all dayremain — not a singleanswer has been found —walking out nowinto the silence and the lightunder the trees,and through the fields,feels like one.

– by Mary Oliver, excerpted from “American Primitive”

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A fi ne suggestion: Hold on to the harvest season’s last roses, the better to remind oneself that our Upstate winters, and all their health challenges, are not eternal.


Westchester Medical Center Health Network includes:

WESTCHESTER MEDICAL CENTER I MARIA FARERI CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL I BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CENTER MIDHUDSON REGIONAL HOSPITAL I GOOD SAMARITAN HOSPITAL I BON SECOURS COMMUNITY HOSPITAL

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