Tag Archives for Rhode Island College

Experts Offer Some Advice on How to Age Successfully

Published in Pawtucket Times, February 21, 2014

            As an aging baby boomer, the pains and aches of old age and my noticeable gray hair are obvious signs of getting closer to age 60.

            Amazing, being given a free donut with my large cup of coffee at Dunkin Donuts, an AARP member benefit, is a clear reminder to me of how people may perceive my chronological age.  When I pulled out my wallet to get my membership card, the employee said, “Don’t worry, your covered.”  Simply put, by having gray hair it was obvious to the young woman that I was eligible to get the free donut.

            The aches and pains of getting older happen more often, too.   After spraining my ankle from a fall on a sheet of ice, while taking out my garbage, it took much longer for this injury to heal.  Most recently, a sharp pain in my hip makes me wonder if hip replacement surgery could be in my future.

            Even like me, President Barack Obama has shown his age by his gray hair and is even beginning to publicly complain about his aches and pains, because of living over five decades.

            The 52- year- old President told retired National Basketball Association star Charles Barkley in a recent interview that he was limiting his trip to the basketball court to once a month because “things happen.”

             “One is, you just get a little older and creakier. The second thing is, you’ve got to start thinking about elbows and you break your nose right before a State of the Union address,” said the 52-year-old president in the interview on the TNT network before the NBA All-Star Game.

             Discussing the aging process during an exchange about his signature healthcare reform law, Obama said that being past 50, “you wake up and something hurts and you don’t know exactly what happened, right?”

 Taking Control of the Aging Process

             Of course, President Obama’s complaints about getting old went viral. Approaching two Rhode Island gerontologists and a geriatric physician, this columnist gives the middle aged President tips on easing into his old age.

            Phillip G. Clark, ScD,  Director, URI Program in Gerontology and Rhode Island Geriatric Education Center and Professor, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, notes that some research has indicated that the decade between 50 and 60 is when many people start getting “messages” that they are getting older. These can be physical, psychological, familial, and social.

             “A lot are based on the messages that they receive from those around them, including the media (“if you’re older than 50, you should be taking Centrum Silver, or you qualify for this special type of life insurance policy,” adds Clark. “These messages may not reflect an accurate picture of what normal aging really is, but rather a biased and stereotypical portrait,” he says, for example, supposed bodily reminders of aging, such as aches and pains, may be due more to lack of exercise rather than actual aging itself.

             To successfully age, “stay physically active” says Clark, suggesting that you get an assessment from your physician.  This helps both your body and your brain. A moderately brisk, 30-minute walk a day is all you need, he notes.  “It’s more important that you build physical activity into your daily routine and do something that you enjoy and can stick with, than spend a lot of money on a gym membership that you seldom use,” he says.  Eating a diet that is high in fruits and vegetables is also important as part of a healthy lifestyle at any age.

             Clark also recommends that aging baby boomers stay engaged with settings and activities that keep them involved in life through their faith community, family and friends. Even having a sense of purpose in life that gets you outside of yourself, through volunteering, can help you age more gracefully, he adds, stressing that having a social network and people who care about and support you are essential elements of successful aging at any age.

             But don’t forget to “have a positive attitude and keep a sense of humor,” warns Clark. According to the gerontologist, this can get you over the challenges and hurdles you may encounter.  “Being resilient in the face of the challenges of life and getting older demands that we see the positive side of situations and not get bogged down in focusing on what we no longer have. We need to emphasize what we can do to keep the enjoyment in our lives.”

             Successful aging may not be swimming the English Channel at age 80, noted Brown University Professor of Medicine and of Health Services, Richard Bresdine, Director of Brown’s Center for Gerontology and Healthcare Research and Director of the Division of Geriatrics in the Department of Medicine.  However, for the general population, successful aging, that is “optimum physical cognitive functioning, rests on your genes, education and life experiences,” he says, not accomplishing great feats like swimming the English Channel.

            While the Brown University geriatrician agrees with Clark about the impact of exercise and social networks on improving your health and longevity, he also sees other ways to increase the quality of your aging.

 Strategies to an Improved Life Style

             According to Besdine, a majority of people with high blood pressure don’t take medication to control it.  This chronic condition can cause strokes.  Smoking does not just cause lung cancer, “but every type of cancer and chronic lung disease, “one of the worst ways to die on this planet.”

             Driving safely can increase your lifespan and quality of aging.  As one ages your eyesight may change, glare becomes a problem, and you lose flexibility to turn.  Retraining programs, offered by AARP and AAA, can reduce the probability of having an accident, says Besdine.

             Don’t forget your pneumonia or influenza vaccination, warns Besdine.  Having repeated occurrences of the flu can lead to heart disease and other health issues, he says.

             A good nutritional diet is key to enhancing the quality of health in your later years, notes Besdine, but people living on fixed incomes may not be able to afford eating fruits, vegetables and lean meats.  Cooking for yourself may even lead to a decision to not make nutritional meals.  Besdine is also a big advocate of the Mediterranean diet, a heart-healthy eating plan that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds, and healthy fats.  He notes that this diet reduces your chances of getting heart disease and diabetes.

             Besdine also notes that there are simple things that you can do at home to increase your longevity and quality of life.  Make sure your home is safe, equipped with fire and carbon monoxide detectors.  Rid your kitchen of toxic substances.  He urges a “gun free” home. “This is not a political statement. Research shows us that a person is much more likely of being shot by a gun that is kept at home,” he says.

             Screening for cancers (by scheduling a mammogram and/or colonoscopy) and depression, along with moderate drinking, good oral health care, and preventing osteoporosis by taking calcium and Vitamin D, even reducing adverse drug reactions and improving mobility, are simple ways to increase the chances of your successful aging, Besdine says.

 Unraveling Research Findings

             Rachel Filinson, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology/Gerontology Coordinator at Rhode Island College, says the “devil may well be in the details,” as older persons try to unravel research findings that might provide them with a clear road maps to achieve successful aging.

             For instance, Filinson notes that while some gerontologist have long regarded “under nutrition,” that is the consuming relatively few calories to sustain oneself,” as a way to increase one’s longevity, others disagree with the theory.

             Meanwhile, mental stimulation is believed by many to deter cognitive decline, Filinson says, but brain teasers and games have not been adequately proven by research findings, she adds, while reading and writing may be helpful.

             Although a large social network and recreational pursuits have been lauded as essential to enhance the quality of aging, some investigations have found that solitary activities like gardening are just as effective, observes Filinson.

             In that science can be a work in progress, Filinson believes that older adults can take charge of their lives by optimizing the positives and minimizing the negatives–how we age.  “It’s about the choices we make in life rather than the genes we were born with,” she quips.

             President Obama might well listen to Clarke, Besdine, and Filinson’s sage advice as to how he can cope with the aging process. Even small changes in his daily,  mundane routines, like using the stairs rather than taking an elevator in the White House or even taking Bo, the first family’s dog, for a brief walk around the grounds, can result in his living longer, even reduce his noticeable aches and pains.

              Herb Weiss, LRI ’12, is a Pawtucket-based writer covering aging, health care and medical issues.  He can be reached at hweissri@aol.com.

Activist Richard J. Walton’s Great Adventure in Life and Death

Published January 4, 2013, Pawtucket Times

Throughout his 84 years, Richard J. Walton served as a role model for generations of activists, watching out and protecting Rhode Island’s voiceless citizens, showing all that positive societal changes could be made by making sound arguments. With his last breath, he even taught us how to face death.

Walton, age 84, died on December 27 at Rhode Island Hospital. He had been treated for leukemia for about six months, says daughter, Cathy Walton Barnard, of Simsbury, Connecticut, who noted his last words, “I’m going on a great adventure.”

Walton Touched Many Lives

Even with many in Walton’s vast progressive and activist networks knowing about his illness, people were caught off guard by his sudden passing one week ago, stated Rick Wahlberg, a computer consultant and a former president of Stone Soup Coffee House, who worked closely with Walton on the nonprofit’s Board of Directors for over 20 years and developed close personal ties. “We considered him part of our family just like many others did,” he said. .

According to Wahlberg, a Cumberland resident, Walton was part of New York’s intelligentsia scene, [mingling with writers at the Lion’s Head, a bar a few steps down from Christopher Street] in Greenwich Village, where he lived making a living as a writer.

Wahlberg viewed Walton as a “great example of morality, humanity and a supporter of nonviolence,” noting that his friend led an amazing life that help shaped his progressive point of view and that of his two daughters. When his oldest daughter, Corinne, heard of Walton’s passing, she remarked, “he did more in one lifetime than most.”

Over the years, Wahlberg, 59, and his wife, Barbara, attended Walton’s birthday parties that would raise large sums of money for his favorite charities, attracting the state’s powerful political and media elite right to his family compound, located at Pawtuxet Cove in Warwick. This legendary fundraising event occurred from 1988 to 2011, bringing hundreds of people each year to celebrate his progressive causes. Due to his health in 2012, for the first time, Walton’s birthday was held at the Roots Cultural Center in Providence.

Joyce Katzberg, 59, folksinger and a founding organizer of Stone Soup Coffee House, spent decades protesting with Walton at vigils, rallies and picket lines. She remembers him as a kind, honest person. When necessary, he was not afraid of using the “F word,” she quipped, noting that this word stood for fascism. His social advocacy “has left many ripples and impacted many Rhode Island nonprofits,” she adds.

“Richard called things for what they were, said things in ways that were hard to argue with because he had the facts, knew the background stories and did his home work. He cared enough to tell the truth,” said Katzberg, stressing how he excelled at moderating views between people with differing positions.

Bruce McCrae (a.k.a. Rudy Cheeks), a co-author of Phillip and Jorge column in the weekly Providence Phoenix, who knew Walton for over 30 years as a social activist, educator and a strong advocate for traditional American Folk music, had his thoughts about his recent passing. “There is no doubt in my mind that Rhode Island would have been a much different and poorer place without his constant presence. He was a mentor to generations of students and social activists and one of the strongest voices for peace and equality that Rhode Island has ever known,” he said.

McCrae, 62, says his efforts for social change extended internationally to Africa where, in 1960, he worked on a number of documentary films on the emerging independence movements on that continent and to Latin America, where he started the Sister Cities Project between Providence and Niquinohomo, Nicaragua, helping to build a medical facility and school there.

One of the City of Pawtucket’s most visible social advocates, Maggi Burns Rogers, remembers Walton as someone who worked hard to improve the world without forgetting how to enjoy it. “He loved to laugh, eat, drink, was an avid gardener, knew his music, read literature and even traveled the world.” (In between his social activism, teaching and writing, during his long life Walton traveled to over 50 countries, making return trips to many of them.),

“Richard won’t be remembered for just one thing because he brought his talent to so many different nonprofits,” says Rogers, including Amos House, the George Wiley Center, Stone Soup Coffee House, Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, and the Pawtucket Arts Festival Executive Committee to name just a few.

With his long white beard, President Betsy Florin, of the Pawtucket-based George Wiley Center, viewed Walton as a Santa Claus-like figure. But unlike Santa, he gave every day of the year, all of his life, she said. “His real gift was not something tangible that could be wrapped in a pretty box and placed under a tree, it was, rather a gift of imagination combined with activism.”

Walton “imagined a world of decency and fairness and then sought to make that happen,” said Florin.

As to Walton’s daughter, Barnard, 52, even in her earliest childhood memories she remembers her father as being an activist, who once marched with his young daughter at a gay pride parade. While not being an activist to “his degree” the Preschool teacher is very politically active in her local community.

Today, Barnard is a diehard New York Mets fan. When Barnard and her brother visited their father in New York, he often took them to watch the team play at Shea Stadium. (As noted in an Op Ed penned by Walton in 2000, throughout his life Walton’s favorite baseball player and hero was Hank Greenberg, a Jewish baseball player who played in the major leagues in the 1930s and 1940s, primarily for the Detroit Tigers. He was considered to be one of the premier power hitters of his generation. Walton noted that Greenberg, who experienced anti Semitism, would encourage another player subject to slurs from the sidelines, that was Jackie Robinson.)

Six Lifetimes Jammed into One

Walton’s life is richly detailed in Wikipedia, a web-based free content encyclopedia.

Born in Saratoga Springs, New York, Walton grew up in South Providence in the 1930s, graduating from Classical High School in 1945. After taking a two year break from his studies at Brown University, serving as a journalist mate in the U.S. Navy, he returned to receive a bachelor’s degree in 1951. He whet his appetite for music by working as disc jockey at Providence radio station WICE before enrolling in Columbia School of Journalism where he later earned a masters in journalism degree in 1955.

Walton’s training at Brown University and the School of Journalism at Columbia propelled him into a writing career. During his early years he worked as a reporter at the Providence Journal, and the New York World Telegram and Sun. At Voice of America in Washington, D.C., Walton would initially put in time reporting on African issues, ultimately being assigned to cover the United Nations.

The prolific writer would eventually publish 12 books, nine being written as critical assessments of U.S. Foreign policy. In the late 1960s, as a freelance writer, he made his living by writing for The Nation, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Village Voice, Newsday, The [old] New Republic, Cosmopolitan, even Playboy. He was also the former UN Secretary-General U Thant’s personal editor for his memoir, “The View from the United Nations.”

In 1981, after 26 years of living outside of Rhode Island, he would return, ultimately becoming one of the most recognizable social activists around, fighting against hunger, homelessness and poverty. The journalist would run for political office and was active in the Citizens Party [the predecessor to the Green Party]. He ran as the political group’s vice presidential candidate in 1984 with the radical feminist Sonia Johnson. They did not win.

For over 25 years, Walton has taught writing to thousands of students at Rhode Island College (RIC). Walton fought to successfully establish a union at this university, hammering out a contract, ultimately serving as its first president until his death. With his death, RIC President Nancy Carriuolo called for lowering the flags on campus to half-staff in his memory.

Walton was married to Margaret Hilton and Mary Una Jones, both marriages ending in divorce. He is survived by his daughter Cathy Walton Barnard and son Richard Walton and three grandchildren.

Big Shoes to Fill

Walton, with his long white hair and beard, wearing his trademark blue overalls, bandana and Stone Soup baseball cap, serves as a role model to the younger generations of social activists, those who will take up his worthy causes to fight for justice, to end poverty, hunger, and homelessness. He taught us how to live life to the fullest, exploring the world while not forgetting to help those in need.

Walton’s life turned out to be a grand adventure. But even with death approaching he taught us to take that leap of faith into the unknown, recognizing that death, too, can be and even grander adventure.

The family is planning a memorial service to be held the first weekend in June.

Herb Weiss, LRI ’12, is a Pawtucket-based freelance writer who covers health care, aging and medical issues. He can be reached at hweissri@aol.com.