Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States.
Lots more men than women. Looks as if half of smokers quit after age 65. An undergrad degree cuts smoking in half, and a graduate degree cuts that percentage by another half.
Also, lots more smokers in the middle of the country than on the coasts. Those suffering from psychological stress are at 48%, the same figure as earlier studies I recall from 30 years ago. Self-medicating. More.
1. Opening – Jim Tanner, Facilitator
2. Comments on events since the last meeting:
a. October 30th Skyline Soapbox II
3. Coming Events
a. To Be Determined – nothing firm on the schedule
4. Other issues: What do we do next year?
a. Things Under Consideration
b. Priority of Ideas by Dots
5. Next Meeting: Friday, TBD, Mount Baker Room
Note Takers: Mary Ann Hagan, Suzanne Hittman
Seattle author, pianist and physician Steve Lagerberg has written a book Chopin’s Heart: The Quest to Identify the Mysterious Illness of the World’s Most Beloved Composer. Chopin’s body rests in Paris, but his heart in Poland. The heart was recently secretly exhumed (again) to try to determine whether Chopin did indeed die from tuberculosis.
I must admit I have a totally unnecessary gadget – the Amazon Alexa. If I’m too busy to call my daughter, Alexa will do it for me. If I say “Alexa, what’s up?” She gives me the latest news and weather. If I’m bored she’ll tell me jokes or we can play Jeopardy. But now…. Saturday Night Live debuts the Alexa Silver specifically designed for us – “the greatest generation.” Who needs a computer anymore?
Sally Soest reminds us that emails can be an easy way for us to be exposed to malware, ransomware and fraud. Wisely she called her bank rather than responding to a “phishy” email about her account. Beware when an email asks you to click on a link, threatens you or asks you for information. Go slow, don’t panic – make a call first.
From the FTC: “Phishing is when a scammer uses fraudulent emails or texts, or copycat websites to get you to share valuable personal information – such as account numbers, Social Security numbers, or your login IDs and passwords. Scammers use your information to steal your money or your identity or both.
“Scammers also use phishing emails to get access to your computer or network then they install programs like ransomware that can lock you out of important files on your computer.
“Phishing scammers lure their targets into a false sense of security by spoofing the familiar, trusted logos of established, legitimate companies. Or they pretend to be a friend or family member.
Phishing scammers make it seem like they need your information or someone else’s, quickly – or something bad will happen. They might say your account will be frozen, you’ll fail to get a tax refund, your boss will get mad, even that a family member will be hurt or you could be arrested. They tell lies to get to you to give them information.”
Now read the following about wise precautions to take:
Saturday, November 18, 2017 | 2:00pm
Benaroya Hall
Thanks to Mary Lou Brown for arranging this Skyline activity with only a cost of $5 for a ticket and $5 for the Skyline bus. Sign up now in the lobby for this special treat to hear Seattle’s finest young musicians.
Consumer Reports and the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation sponsor a free web site called Choosing Wisely. There is a wealth of information and guidance on a host of medical questions. They use evidence based reasoning in their articles: choosingwisely.org. The advice if free to download. Please click here for advice on things physician and patients should question.
The following link is to a PDF of the CEG meeting Notes for October 27th.
From Dorothy Wendler
IN THIS ISSUE:
AgeWise King County is published by the Seattle-King County Advisory Council on Aging & Disability Services (ADS). Learn more at www.agingkingcounty.org/about-us/advisory-council. Consider joining us–prospective members may apply at any time. For more information, contact ADS planner Gigi Meinig (gigi.meinig@seattle.gov or 206-684-0652). |
In case you missed the action:
video link
“Financial Issues in Today’s CCRC Industry”
November 8, 2017, Wednesday, 3:00PM at Skyline
| Leading Age Washington and WACCRA jointly invite you to an educational program entitled “Financial Issues in Today’s CCRC Industry.” This program is the first of a series of educational offerings planned for the coming year.
This kick-off program features a presentation and discussion by Mary Munoz and Sarkis Garabedian of Ziegler. Ziegler is the #1 ranked national company in the field of Senior Living finance with many clients in the Greater Seattle area. For more information about Ziegler, please click on: This presentation will be of particular interest to Resident Finance Committees and WACCRA members with a keen interest in CCRC finances. Areas addressed will include: Deb Murphy, CEO, Leading Age Washington, and I look forward to seeing you on November 8. Thank you for your continued support of WACCRA. Allan Affleck |
From Jim Tanner
From Dick Dion: “Two issues are the cause of a plethora of diseases and health conditions affecting people worldwide: smoking and obesity.And one local health committee in the UK has announced a controversial policy “to support patients whose health is at risk from smoking or being very overweight.”
For an indefinite amount of time, it plans to ban access to routine, or non-urgent, surgery under the National Health Service until patients “improve their health,” the policy states, claiming that “exceptional clinical circumstances (will) be taken into account on a case-by-case basis.”
The decision comes from the clinical commissioning group (known as a CCG) for the county of Hertfordshire, which has population of more than 1.1. million.
The time frame for improving health is set at nine months for the obese in particular; those with a body mass index over 40 must reduce the number by 15% over that time period, and those with a BMI over 30 are given a target of 10%. Click here for the full article.
Ed Note: Is this reasonable? Insurance companies charge more for smokers. But is it right to delay not urgent surgeries while people are urged to improve their life-style? As a society, we are paying for this. But where and how do we draw the line in promoting health?
Sundays may prove a great time to get us up and moving – line dancing, swing, cha cha, waltz and even a few lessons thrown in! Plans are being made for another Sunday on November 19th (no Seahawks game that day!). The turnout was good and all had a great time. Thanks to Carmen for working such a long day and to Les McCants for finding such a good DJ!
“You continually pray when you are living a life of kindness, although not with your mouth yet with your heart. That which you love is continually in your thoughts, even when you are unconscious of it.” Emanuel Swedenborg
Harvard surgeon Atul Gawande wrote The Checklist Manifesto – How to Get Things Right. He also founded Ariadne Labs which is a joint center of the Brigham and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The most widely used checklists are by airline pilots – a major reason air travel today is so safe. Gawande is probably doing more for quality improvement in medicine than anyone and his work is having an impact.
What does all that mean for us? Well, anyone concerned about safety should have a checklist. It’s reasonable to ask your hospital, anesthesiologist or surgeon if they use checklists. They should! The same applies to safety in our building. We also need personal checklists to make sure all our ducks are in a row. That said, I’d better get to work!
