Tag Archives for URI

A Physician’s Guide to Living Life Fully, Not Just Longer, with Dr. Ed Iannuccilli

Published in RINewsToday on October 12, 2025

Over two weeks ago, over 300 advocates, providers, and older adults gathered at the Senior Agenda Coalition of Rhode Island’s (SACRI) 16th Annual Conference and Expo, “Navigating Choppy Waters – Shelter from the Storm,” held at Rhode on the Pawtuxets in Cranston.

The Sept. 25 event featured a thought-provoking keynote address by Dr. Ed Iannuccilli, state legislative updates, unveiling a new award to recognize two advocates, along with a panel discussion exploring critical topics facing older adults.

“This conference, by all measure, was a tremendous success,” said Carol Anne Costa, Executive Director of the Senior Agenda Coalition of RI, noting that the new venue, the topics, the engagement of the audience was reflected in the energy in the room.

“We are collecting survey responses an the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive,” says Costa noting that people are craving the opportunities to reconnect in person and in conversation. “If our vision for this conference helped to achieve that, it’s a win,” she said. 

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Simple Tips on Aging Gracefully

 Dr. Ed Iannuccilli, a highly respected retired board-certified internist and gastroenterologist and the author of six published books, delivered an impassioned 31-minute keynote shifting the tone from legislation and program updates.  He offered common-sense advice on aging gracefully and called for changes in the state’s health care system to restore compassion and personal connection.

Looking back to the early days of his medical practice, Iannuccilli—who practiced medicine for over 30 years—recalled a conversation with a lively, healthy 80-year-old woman.

“In the innocence of my youth, I said admiringly, ‘At 80, you’re in marvelous condition. You don’t need to worry—age is just a number.’”

“She looked at me, twirled her ring, straightened her smock, squinted, pursed her lips, and said, ‘Young man, I have the number. Don’t you ever tell anyone that again,’” he said.

“And I never did,” he added. “It was an early lesson. As Oscar Wilde said, ‘With age comes wisdom, but sometimes wisdom comes with winters.’ Well, I have the winters now. I have the number. And I’m pleased to say that no one has dared call it just a number again,” said the Bristol resident.

As for reducing the stress of growing old, Iannuccilli shared: “I try to do happy things, avoid too much news, meet friends, and accept loss and mistakes with a spiritual shovel. No one’s judging anymore—history is history.”

He advised, “Don’t make living a long life your goal; living fully, is. If you’re at an age milestone—don’t panic. Laugh more. Call a friend. As Mark Twain said, ‘Don’t complain about growing old; it’s a privilege denied to many.’”

Iannuccilli said he stays curious, reads, writes, and keeps his mind active. “I even take piano lessons. I don’t need to go on a space mission; I’m already on a planet full of adventure,” he joked.

 He also emphasized that longevity and good health are tied to human connection. “Be a helper. Call a friend. Drive someone to a doctor’s appointment. Volunteer at a pantry. Fred Rogers’ mother was right—‘Look for the helpers.’ Better yet—be one,” urged Iannuccilli.

Navigating a Broken Health Care System

“We use words like quality, efficiency, deliverables, and outcomes—but what people want is access and comfort,” Iannuccilli observed. But, fewer long-term physician-patient relationships, financial barriers at every turn, and isolation among older adults all reflect systemic changes in today’s healthcare system, says Iannuccili.

According to Iannuccili, costs for care, medication, nursing homes, and even vaccines are rising. Too many seniors live alone and disconnected.

“When someone is sick, they want to be comforted. They want someone who listens and helps them navigate an increasingly impersonal system,” he says. 

Today it’s [often] a long phone queue, a chatbot, or a portal that needs a password and two-step verification,” he said. “You wait on hold and think, ‘This is my health I’m calling about, not my cable bill.’ We’ve lost the personal touch.”

“Be patient with emerging artificial intelligence,” Iannuccilli added. “With proper tuning, it can increase efficiency, help pair patients with the right provider, contain costs, and even promote equity. But nothing—nothing—will ever replace personal care.”

Patients are now called consumers, he said, a term he dislikes. “You’re not a consumer—you’re a patient. The word comes from the Latin patiens—one who suffers. It deserves respect.”

Recognizing Rhode Island’s Health Care Assets

Iannuccilli called for Rhode Islanders to stop focusing on negatives, like the bridge, and instead recognize their access to high-quality health care facilities.

“Within 20 miles you can reach some of the nation’s best hospitals—Rhode Island Hospital, Women & Infants, Hasbro Children’s, Butler, Bradley, Kent, South County, Newport, Miriam, Roger Williams, and Fatima,” he said.

According to Iannuccilli, the state’s health care system—from Brown University to URI—is “extraordinary,” featuring world-class nursing programs, physician assistant schools, and a top pharmacy school.

He believes Rhode Island can become a national model for universal access to health care.

“If we can assume our trash will be collected, our children educated, and our homes protected by firefighters, why can’t we assume access to health care for everyone?” he asked. “We have the talent. We have the infrastructure. What we need is the will.”

With a growing shortage of primary care physicians, Iannuccilli called for the creation of a medical school at the University of Rhode Island dedicated solely to training primary care physicians.

He concluded by issuing a call to action: “Let’s make Rhode Island the envy of the nation—a state where health care works for everyone, where education, research, and delivery come together. We can do better. We must do better. And guess what? We don’t have a choice.”

SACRI Recognition

At the conference, Costa recognized the advocacy of Ray Gagne Jr. for his advocacy work as Senior Organizer at RI Organizing Project and Sister Norma Fleming, RSM, for her direct work with adults with disabilities at ReFocus, Inc. by presenting them with the inaugural Marjorie Waters Award for Service. Honoring the legacy of Marjorie Waters—a Rhode Island College graduate, former Director of Information Technology for a Tribal Nation, Six Sigma Process Excellence Coach in the finance industry, and Executive Director of Providence’s Westminster Senior Center—the award celebrates her dedication as a lifelong community activist.

Legislative Greetings, and a Look to the Future

House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi (D-Dist. 23, Warwick) brought greetings from the House, emphasizing his strong commitment to supporting the state’s growing older population.

“As long as I’m Speaker of this House and I’m in Rhode Island government, you will have a friend in state government,” he pledged to the attending advocates and older adults.

The Warwick lawmaker shared how his 99-year-old father, who is battling Alzheimer’s and has mobility issues, has given him a personal understanding of older Rhode Islanders’ desire to remain at home—insight that has shaped his aging policy agenda.

Shekarchi highlighted several recent legislative successes, including the expansion of the Medicare Savings Program after 14 years of advocacy, which will save low-income beneficiaries over $2,000 annually. He also cited the state’s Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Law, which allows in-law apartments or “granny flats” (in the colloquial), to help residents age in place in their homes.

Senate President Rep. Lauren Carson (D-Dist. 75, Newport), also detailed her legislative work on behalf of older Rhode Islanders. As Chair of the House Study Commission on Aging, she announced her intention to introduce legislation to make the commission permanent to help guide the state’s aging policy.

Another planned bill for next year would replace the term “senior citizen” with “older Rhode Islander” in state law to promote a more positive view of aging.

Maria Cimini, Director of the State’s Office of Healthy Aging, stressed that the guiding principle of her office’s work was to ensure older Rhode Islanders had the “choice to age as they wished” with dignity and independence.

She pointed out a significant demographic shift, noting that Rhode Island now had more people over 65 than under 18. “We are all aging. My goal is to be sure that Rhode Island is a great place to grow up and grow old,” she says.

A panel discussion followed the keynote, covering practical aspects of end-of-life planning, including legal documents such as wills and trusts, funeral pre-planning, financial planning for dependents with disabilities, suicide prevention, and the role of the long-term care ombudsman.

To watch SACRI’s Sept. 25th program, go to https://capitoltvri.cablecast.tv/show/11543?site=1

New Local Documentary Confronts Ageism in Society

Published in RINewsToday on August 12, 2024

Big News. After three years in fundraising, filming and production, Filmmaker Michelle Le Brun is poised to showcase her new 55-minute document, “Optics of Aging,” on Oct. 15 at 5:00 pm., at the Providence Public Library in the Donald Farish Auditorium.  

This full-length documentary’s premiere is support by The Rhode Island Foundation, The Robertson Foundation, RI State Council on the Arts and The Providence Public Library, and about $11,423 raised on GoFundMe (goal set at $20,000).  

In “Optics of Aging”, stereotypes of ageism dissolve and the beauty of aging is revealed through five Rhode Island elders who have shaped the landscape of Rhode Island and beyond, says Le Brun. “Their voices take flight against the backdrop of archival imagery that captures the vision of an earlier time,” she said.

This is not Le Brun’s “first rodeo” in making documentaries.  Her first film Death: A Love Story premiered at Sundance film Festival in competition in 1999 (now available now in over 500 universities in the U.S. and Canada),   It won Best Documentary at Santa Barbara film festival and got several honors at other film festivals. It enjoyed seven different kinds of distribution over 20 years. She also teaches in the Film Media Department at the University of Rhode Island (URI).

The Epiphany…

According to Le Brun, the subject of aging is front and center in our country right  now. How old is too old? Is age really just a number? Regardless of one’s answer to these questions, we all have ageist stereotypes that we grow up with from a very young age.

At  age 61, the Providence filmmaker had an epiphany about her own aging. “I had all  kinds of negative images in my mind about what it means to grow old.  Images of decrepitude and rapidly decreasing health, not being able to get up the 41 stairs to my home, isolated,” she remembered. 

“But I also knew people in their 90s who were nothing like my conditioned images of the elder years. The more I looked around, I began to notice that in fact, there were many people in their 70s, 80s, and 90s that defied the images I had of what it means to be an elder,” says Le Brun. 

“So, I thought I would reach out to them and ask about their lives and their feelings about aging,” notes Le Brun. ”There are so many very interesting and unique elders in our community, I had a hard time deciding who to interview. I decided the common element that would pull them all together is that they had each done something at some point in their lives that contributed to the character of Rhode Island,” she added. 

“From there, I found various people word-of-mouth except Phil West who I already knew from University of Rhode Island, adds Le Brun.   

“And one of the things I have realized in making this film, is that we are all a thread in the tapestry of this place; of Rhode Island – of any place we call home. Our home is living and breathing, ever changing. We shape the place we live in as it in turn shapes us,” she stated. 

Five Elder Voices

On her website, Le Brun notes: “The five elders’ take flight against the backdrop of archival imagery that captures the vision of an earlier time in Rhode Island when the state confronted challenges that required creative solutions.  The ideas of these forward thinkers changed lives and shaped legends and legacies during times of vast sociocultural change. Through these stories, our community remembers its past to inform a future that maintains the unique character of Rhode Island. 

These five elder Rhode Islanders raise awareness and challenge society’s stereotypes around aging and celebrate the elder years.  “Their personal narratives create a tapestry of perspectives that showcase the beauty, resilience, and wisdom that comes with advancing age,” says Le Brun. 

And their backgrounds are detailed on the Optics of Aging web site:

“Linda Miller (90 years young at filming), the woman behind Lippitt Hill Tutorial, later renamed Inspiring Minds, that alleviated the stressors of 1960’s desegregation in Providence schools and delivered significant improvements in student’s academic performance. Her stalwart values have guided her life from education reformer to psychotherapist, which she is still doing today! Her wisdom about aging shines through her ever-present humor.”

“Phil West (77 years young when interviewed in 2019) long-time state director of Common Cause and author of Secrets and Scandals: Reforming Rhode Island1986-2006.The Providence Journal dubbed him “The Godfather of Political Reform in Rhode Island.” The key to his pursuit of ethical government over the decades was establishing a Separation of Powers amendment in the Rhode Island Constitution. Phil’s quiet passion for justice resonates deeply. 

“Aly Stallman (90 years young when he died in 2019) entrepreneur and Ironman triathlete in his 50s, also Founder and President of the Ocean State Marathon in Newport, RI. In the feature film, Aly has just told his doctors that he wants no more treatments. He shares his feelings about his imminent death with grace and poignancy”. 

“Morris Nathanson (95 years young when he died in 2022) who co-designed De Pasquale Square in Providence, the first Dunkin’ Donuts, and was one of the founding designers for Trinity Repertory Theater. He has shaped the sights and sounds of Providence and abroad through his landmark architectural restaurant designs. The warmth in community of growing up in Pawtucket has shaped his whole life.”

“Mildred Nichols (90 years young when interviewed in 2019). Beloved community leader, was a founding member of the Rhode Island Women’s Political Caucus, served on the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education and was Director of Career Counseling Services at the Rhode Island Department of Education where she was instrumental in providing out reach to women known as ‘displaced’ homemakers. Mildred is also a descendent of Joseph Trammel. She shares with us his freedom papers and her moving gratitude.” 

As Le Brun says, “ageism is the last “ism” it seems still ok to have. Let’s change that!” 

Working alongside Le Brun were Ryan Bliss (Editor), Milana Cepeda (Composer), Becca Bender (Archival Producer), Roxanne Ducharme, in Panama (Graphic Design and Animation), and Mauro Colangelo in Italy (Post-Production Audio and Mix). An international team.

To register for the premiere and join the discussion at Providence Public Library, go to https://provlib.libcal.com/event/12675871 .

For updates and future screenings go to: https://www.opticsofaging.com/

To fund Optics of Aging’s outreach, go to  https://www.gofundme.com/f/optics-of-aging-beyond-the-number  

Childhood Passion for Gardening Blooms in Retirement

Published in Pawtucket Times on June 21, 2013

Looking back over sixty years ago, Michael Chute smiles when he remembers how a childhood hobby, has firmly taken root in his retirement years. After 34 years, Michael and his wife Angelina, closed down their Pawtucket-based sign shop near McCoy Stadium in 2012. Now the retired couple makes use of their combined green thumbs, love and knowledge about rose gardening, spreading the gospel of growing the perfect healthy and attractive rose, through their speaking engagements before garden clubs and in their writings in a blog, newsletters and even a book.

Childhood passions can be ignited in later years, says Michael. “When anyone is introduced to gardening or even sports or reading for pleasure or art or writing at a very early age, it will stick with them for the rest of their lives.” So true.

A Child’s Chance Encounter

In the early 1950s, Michael’s chance encounter with a “neighborhood dad” in his quiet Pinecrest neighborhood, would ultimately lead to his life-long hobby and passion for gardening. From this meeting, the five-year old child would take home a little bit of knowledge about how to grow plants and, along with a few leftover radish seeds, given to him by this older man, to start his own small garden.

Michael said that tiny seedlings soon appeared from watering his seeds everyday. “How else could those hard little brown seeds turn into tiny green plants,” he thought, believing that this must be the result of magic. His mother nodded, when he told her this, agreeing with his assessment.

Now, making daily trips to visit his “gardening mentor,” Michael became to learn more about the basics of gardening, now his new little hobby. “I learned that tomatoes, corn, beans, squash, Ralph Kramden, Ike, and DeSotos were good and that weeds, woodchucks, no rain, stray cats, slugs, grubs, and the Yankees were bad,” he said.

The budding, gardener ultimately learned to tell the difference between good bugs and the bad ones. Even at his young age, Michael would realize that using horse manure, “gardener’s gold,” was one way to separate real gardeners from fakes. Lugging his bucketful of nature’s fertilizer to his home, he dragged it right into the kitchen, saying, “Hey Ma, look what I’ve got.” The “gardener’s gold” went right out the back door, he said, because of his mother’s stern command.

With his radish seeds now six inches high in his backyard, he yanked one out, brushed off the dirt and popped it into his mouth. Beginning to chew the “incredibly sharp intensity of bitter flavor that only comes from very fresh radishes assaulted his tender tongue,” he remembered this resulting in his eyes watering and his ears ring. He promptly spit out the radish bits out.

Even with memories of eating the foul-tasting radish, the youngster continued to garden, even learning the principles of germination. In time, he would have worked his own backyard garden. Over the years, flowers, especially roses, have replaced the vegetable patch of his youth and middle years, he says.

Michael would later meet his wife, Angelina, a Newport native, at the Library, a URI coed who expressed little interest in gardening. The young couple, in their early twenties, married in 1971. One year later, they moved into their newly purchased ranch-style home in Riverside. The young man, remembering his childhood training, began to grow and harvest tomatoes, green peppers, egg-plant, and string beans, even strawberries, plucked from his quarter acre garden plot.

“I grew them, she cooked them,” he said.

Michael’s modest backyard garden steadily grew in size over 20 years with his renewed interest in gardening. Gradually, his three rose bushes, quickly increasing in numbers, would replace his tomato plants. Today, the couple has grown hundreds of rose varieties in their back yard, even digging up their front yard 6 years ago and turning it into a trial area for gardening without pesticides, even picking off by hand pests.

As to his philosophy of growing rose bushes at his home garden, “each rose bush gets two seasons to please me. If not, good-bye,” he says, noting that he only has so many holes in the garden and there is great competition for admission,” he says.

According to Michael, in the early 1990s the URI Master Gardeners asked him to speak about roses at a meeting, this leading to other speaking engagements for the couple. The flower shows bookings followed in the late 1990s and the Chutes began traveling throughout New England and New York to spread the gospel about rose gardening. When Michael and his wife joined rose societies they made new friends, but also gained opportunities to share their growing knowledge about rose gardening with these individuals.

Nationally Recognized in the Rose Business

Today, the Chutes are co-owners of RoseSolutions, a landscape consulting company that offers educational programs, workshops, seminars and consulting services on rose horticulture. They are both certified American Rose Society Consulting Rosarians and University of Rhode Island Master Gardeners. Mike is an accredited ARS horticultural rose judge. They served as Guest Editors of the 2008 American Rose Society Annual; authored the chapter “Roses” in the University of Rhode Island Sustainable Gardening Manual; and were co-founders and past presidents of the Rhode Island Rose Society.

The Riverside couple maintains an active schedule of lectures and workshops throughout the New England area, including the Boston Flower & Garden Show, the Rhode Island Spring Flower & Garden Show, the Newport Flower Show, the University of Rhode Island Symposium and Tower Hill Botanic Garden. They recently were featured on Rose Chat Radio, a nationally broadcast internet radio program.

Publishing the Definitive Book on Growing Roses

“From our many lectures on rose gardening, it became apparent to us from the same questions we got, home gardeners wanted to grow roses but did not know how,” says Michael. “There was no definitive book, specifically addressing rose gardening in New England,” he added, adding that not even an easy-to-follow, well-written hands-on guide to sustainable rose gardening (gardening without the use of pesticides), was not on the market.

“There was a niche we needed to fill,” Michael said.

Ultimately, years of gardening experience would be detailed in a self-published book, Roses for New England: A Guild to Sustainable Rose Gardening. The idea of writing a book on rose gardening in New England initially came from people attending the Chute’s workshops who requested their handouts, recommended that they be compiled into a book.

But, it took the couple over four years to write their first book, published by Forbes River Publishing, in 2010. Four years earlier, they had vacationed in Sugar Loaf Mountain Maine, to ski, says Michael. During a blizzard, that kept them away from the ski slopes, Michael and Angelina penned an outline of the book on a legal pad. Later, an internet search would reveal that no book had been written about growing roses specifically in the New England Region, he added.

While the book probably could have been writing in fifteen months, the longer period of time it took to write gave “us an opportunity to see things we initially did not see,” says Michael.

In the near future look for a sequel to their initial book, says Michael. “We are on it now, the book,” he adds, noting that it will detail tips for easy-care rose gardening; including lists of sustainable rose varieties; short bios of modern rose breeders of such roses; along with information on companion plants.

Do What You Love, But…

Aging baby boomers are living longer and working longer, may find themselves in unfulfilling jobs. Michael warns those hoping to reignite a childhood hobby into a new, challenging, and career in their later years, and should proceed cautiously. “Do what you love but be careful because hobbies do not always segue into businesses,” he says. .

But, for those just learning the art of gardening, Michael recommends, “Don’t make your first rose garden too big even if you’re going to plant lower-maintenance roses.”

To purchase the 146 page book ($21.95, free shipping), Roses for New England: A Guild to Sustainable Rose Gardening, go to http://www.rosesolutions.net. Visit the Chute’s blog, too, at http://www.therosejournal.wordpress.com.

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