Page

Editor: Henny van Dijk www.uthro.org November, 2018

In this Issue Page 1 UTHRO’s Annual Meeting & Holiday Luncheon Page 2 Zoo Lights Event; Consortium on Aging News Page 3 2018 Health Symposium revisited; Anne Muses Page 4 ...and now for something completely different!

Thursday November 15 Holiday Luncheon at a Glance

11 AM—OCB Rio Grande

Texas Two-Step Menu

Slow Smoked Angus Beef Brisket Hickory Smoked Chicken Breast

Served with Garlic Mashed Potatoes,

Fresh Green Beans, Barbeque Sauce

Dinner Rolls

Ice Tea with Lemons & Sweetener

Desserts:

Double Fudge Brownies Pecan Pie Squares

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Price: $22.00 pp. pre-paid

Make your check out to UTHRO and send to Jean Long by Nov.7

12410 W. Little York Rd., # 315,TX, 77041

Annual Meeting, Holiday Luncheon, UT Police Toy Drive

We of course will have the Annual Meeting in the Rio Grande Room on the sec-ond floor at OCB, in which the President will present a look back on the year 2018 as well as the election of a

new President and officers for the Executive Com-mittee by the membership. Don’t forget to bring your loose change for the Endowment. UTHRO will also celebrate their traditional Holiday Luncheon with a non-traditional menu this time. Pappas catering will serve a luncheon straight out of your typical Texas BBQ restaurant, so I’m sure many of you will attend and enjoy the food. Pappas was the winner againt this year of our UTHRO Ex-ecutive Committee vote. Therefore, the Texas two-step will be our menu. Finally, The UT Police in collaboration with UTHRO and UT Health employ-ees will hold its Annual Toy Drive benefitting pediatric and adoles-cent patients at Harris County Psychiatric Center (HCPC) and LBJ Hospital. We urge our mem-bers to get into the spirit of giving by bringing an unwrapped new toy to the luncheon to make a child happy at Christ-mas.

We look forward to another successful gift drive!

RSVP by November 7 to

Sherri Orioli , 281-726-1674 sorioli@comcast.net

November, 2018 The Evergreen Page 2

Enjoy the Zoo Like You’ve Never Seen It Before

The Houston Zoo Lights Consortium on Aging News

When the call went out for photogenic volunteers to pose for pictures portraying patients for the Consortium, three of our UTHRO members stepped up to the plate (this in honor of the Astros in their run to another World Series win) and were used in the Consortium’s recent mailing to those who support them and their Director Dr Carmel Dyer. For those who did not get the memo the consortium send out a three page synopsis of their activities on behalf of the older population such as a comprehensive model of care for older adults. Several important symposia dealing with the geriatric population were held on enhancing care through research on Alzheimer’s, pain, depression, self-neglect, fall prevention and bone and joint health and repair. The com-prehension model initiative seeks to establish a certification program to train doctors, nurses, dentist, pharmacists and social workers to effectively care for the elderly; this pro-gram will train up to 150 people each year creating a pipe-line of providers. It also will recall something from years gone by—the House Call where a nurse practitioner visits patients at home after a hospital stay to make sure that the doctor’s orders are being followed for medications and home safety. Dr Dyer paid a heart warming thank you to the generosity of people and organization like UTHRO who have devoted their Endowment to Dr Dyer and her team and because of them we were able to award three “seed” grants of $5,000 / $ 3,000 and $2,000 to conduct pilot stud-ies. The three symposia covered topics such as “Hot topics in Aging” which featured local and national experts speak-ing on culinary medicine, oral health and ethics, while the symposium on “Aging Research attracted nearly 130 atten-dees and a keynote address by the Mayo Clinic’s James Kirkland, MD, an expert in cellular aging. Finally more than 160 attendees listened to speakers discussing medication related problems and chronic pain management with opioids. Dr Dyer ends her letter with a Thank You to the continued dedication and tireless pursuit of the one goal foremost: helping older adults receive the specialized care they deserve and to thank everyone who helped make pos-sible those advances and she looks forward to what will be accomplished together in the years to come.

Between the shopping, decorating, wrapping and baking, schedule take some time to enjoy the holidays! Once a year, the Houston Zoo is transformed into a winter wonder-land! TXU Energy Presents Zoo Lights celebrates its sixth year as one of Houston’s most well-loved holiday traditions. And we will be visiting the Zoo this year on Monday Decem-ber 17.The bus will leave OCB at 6PM, and we arrive at the zoo by 6:30PM. When you first walk in, you’ll want to take a photo with our Zoo Lights ornament display. Then stroll around the Reflection Pool, where the majestic oak trees are robed in colorful lights that sparkle in concert with holi-day tunes. Enter the trail to discover many artistic displays of light, with plenty of stops for delicious holiday refresh-ments. You’ll wind up back at the Reflection Pool for an-other chance to enjoy this majestic area. Sip hot chocolate as you stroll through the beautiful Houston Zoo grounds and take in the sights and sounds of the season – including more than two million lights! Fifteen miles of earth-friendly LED lighting illuminate our ancient oak trees and decorate the paths to light your way. Sights to delight you include our Texas-themed area presented by TransCanada. Other fea-tures include the Holiday Train Village presented by Macy’s, the Enchanted Forest, and Candy, the interactive talking zebra, presented by H-E-B. The event offers a s’mores sta-tion, bites, drinks, hot chocolate, and more. While most ani-mals will be asleep during the hours of Zoo Lights, guests can usually spy some active giraffes and of course there are plenty of photo opportunities!

November, 2018 The Evergreen Page 3

Anne’s Musings ... The 2018 Health Symposium

Testing & Vaccination

I was browsing UT System’s Benefits Web site and found a multitude of benefits avail-able to retirees that I was not aware of. I am really interested in the Identity Protection Services. This is a UT Select benefit through BCBSTX for retirees and spouses.

The actual sign up is through Experian and is at no cost to you. Not only will it protect your medical information through BCBSTX, it also protects your personal informa-tion. Directions on how to access and sign up through Ex-perian is detailed. I know several people who have varied experience with having to clean up credit issues when their Identity is compromised. My next door neighbor spent a good amount of time trying to solve her problem and said her bank helped her. From the sound of it, remedying the problem can be very time consuming and excruciatingly detailed. Signing up through Experian seems like a much easier process than the alternative!

It’s (Agony) Fantastic to Grow Old I just read that October 16 is the date for the Health Symposium provided by

UTHRO. I was eager to sign up until I read the date. Sadly I am scheduled for Knee Surgery on the 15th. Let me share with you my philosophy on aging. At the age of 40, everything moves south, at the age of 50, you feel every injury that you have had in your life and at the age of 60 all your injuries catch up. Thus surgery on my already replaced knee. I am still excited about upcoming events. When I am ready for the field trips and presentations, I’ll be there!

Now back to benefits. I just re-ceived the notice about Naturally

Slim. It is definitely something I am interested in as I have been gaining weight before and after my knee replace-ment. I am now up almost two sizes and it all went to my middle. I started dieting last week and have had a little success but I am not supposed to eat many of the foods I love. The Naturally slim tag line caught my attention as it peaked my interest from reading ”Learn how to lose weight and improve your health while eating the foods you love.” I’m up for that. Dr. Randy Scott raved about this when I saw him at the last retirees meeting. He said he had lost a lot of weight and I noticed was very svelte. Reading about the benefit, I see that this will help me modify my behavior. I have spent my life either on a diet or failing at a diet. I have not tried this method yet but I know at my age (old) I have to do something. There is no cost so I am signing up today. I am very excited to use this. I’ll keep you posted on my progress. P.S. I salute and envy those of you who have maintained a healthy weight. Kudos!!! Signing off

Anne Fefer Bullard

Dr “Bert” DuPont

Dr. Robin Weltman

Valuable Information Dr. Anna Steinberger

Photographs by Henny van Dijk

About 50 members showed for this event About 50 members showed for this event

The Speakers

UTHRO The University of Texas Houston Retiree Organization 1851 Crosspoint, Suite 1.204 Houston, TX 77054 To update your address or phone number

please contact us at 713-983-0191

UTHRO OFFICERS 2018

President Barbara Kelly 281-933-3634 bkelly0127@gmail.com

Vice-Pres Tena Lummus 832-569-4176 nanapoo1@att.net

Secretary Charlotte Childress 281-240-6898 charlotte.childress@yahoo.com

Treasurer Jean Long 713-983-0191 12410 W. Little York Rd., # 315,TX, 77041 jeanlong2@aol.com

Web Administrator Sherri Orioli Newsletter Editor Henny van Dijk

And now for something completely different ...

Signs of the Times

We are living in strange and exciting times where things we used to know and cherish will be upended by new, sometime odd or unexpected outcomes. Take a home for instance - we all know what a house should look like and how it is built, but guess what, there is a totally new trend or trends depending on which country you might live or visit. The new devel-opment I ran into the past couple of months, might seem science fiction or harking back on old concepts but using new materials. The Netherlands will soon be building a community of homes build by 3-D printers in Holland's Eindhoven, the city of Philips and a technical university, that will look like a collection of dolmen, the megalithic, huge stone structures (think Stonehenge) from bronze age Europe. Build or maybe more accurately poured by a gigantic 3-D printer that can construct single or two-storey homes that look like huge boulders. The original plan is for 5 homes to be build in the next few years. A 3-D home is not new; in Austin, TX a prototype was build for inexpensive housing in "third world countries", but the Dutch plan envisions homes and a com-munity for their countrymen. So no wood framing or roofed shin-gles, no almost identical row houses, but also no termites or wood rot, no sirree Bob this will be cement and the end result will look like huge and differently shaped boulders in a nice grassy environment.