Sarah Hope Kagan, PhD, RN, on Mental Health and Well Being as We Age

It was easy to see why Dr Kagan is an award-winning teacher. Before I got there, she and a couple of others, pulled the chairs into a circle so we could all see one another and have a more intimate setting.

Since New Directions is a nonprofit, we got a gift card and Robin Franklin and Suzanne provided coffee and snacks.

Sarah hails from a farm in Michigan and currently lives in Center City. Altho she has a car, the very safe Swedish Saab, she learned about when she gave a talk in Sweden, she walks everywhere, including to work.

Her friend Angela, also a nurse, drove her to the Giant. Angela was surprised to find it had metamorphosed from a Home Despot.

They enjoyed the time to talk outside of work.

We went around the circle, said our names, why we were here, and asked a question.

After everyone spoke, Sarah remembered everyone's names, and said, Great question. She makes you feel good!

Ron Abrams came in late b/c there was an accident that held up traffic from downtown.

Sarah, who will be 53, brings 30 years of gerontological experience to her talks which she gives all over the world.

  She and Herb Smith, PhD, head of Penn's Population Studies Center, studied demographics - the statistical data of a population, especially those showing average age, income, education, etc. - on Growing Old Around the Globe.

Sarah plus another nurse teach the course at Penn. We can take it if we choose!

Current lifespan in the USA is 79.  Fifty years ago, lifespan was about 65.

The longer you live, the more your life expectancy will increase. 

Women live longer than men. One reason is their ability to socialize. Isolating yourself if you're old is the worst thing you can do. We must have interpersonal relationships and see other people.

The longest living women in the world live in Hong Kong and Macao, both are part of China. BUT, there's been so much modernization in China, including unhealthy air pollution and cigarette smoking, we wonder how long that distinction will last.

Orange County, CA, she noted, has the healthiest populations in the country, due to tobacco cessation.

Wiki - Orange County is included in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area.


It's also a wealthy community. In poverty-stricken communities people die young. They are uneducated and fall into bad dietary habits that bring on obesity and a host of other problems.

In Russia and Japan, men die 10 years younger b/c they smoke.


Interesting Aside: Freud was 83 when he died of jaw cancer via euthanasia. He smoked 20 cigars a day. Read about it here. Just b/c you read about it doesn't mean it's true. 

Demographics show that Pennsylvania has the oldest population and Pittsburgh has the most old people, with 24 percent of the population.

Older adults also reside in Philadelphia, Buffalo and Boston.

RETIREMENT YEARS.

Sun City, Arizona was developed specifically as a retirement community.

Oh, goody-goody. Let's move to Sun City, relax and do nothing.

 
In the old days when America was an agrarian society, people worked on their farms from sundown to sunset and died, often while they were hard at work.




We must think of "age-friendly" places.

Ada and Rich touted the memory unit of Brandywine at Dresher where 105-yo Lillian Moss lives.



Sarah Kagan had some encouraging words about dementia.

Meds can slow the disease process. As can a healthy diet and exercise.

And learning new things, particularly a new language or playing a musical instrument.



Rich Fleisher.... is that YOU playing the banjo?

The Music Department of the brain is different than the language part and may still be quite active. When visitors arrive in dementia units and sing or play the piano, the residents may participate, as that part of their brain is still active.

Larry Kirschner plays piano in several nursing homes. 

She discussed the importance of intergenerational relationships.


It's important to me and also to Max, nearly 2, that we have a close relationship.

Sarah cited a Pew Foundation study - Growing Old in America: Expectations vs Reality - view it here.

People age in different ways and we should value the way each person ages. Stereotypes include wrinkles, stooped over and white hair. These may be genetic traits. There are, however, ways we can get beyond our genomes. More later.

Sarah teaches college students and asks them to share experiences about their grandparents. And how they can learn from them. Wonder if they ever thought of that before.

She surprises them by saying, You age from the moment you're born. You're aging right now sitting in this class.



This was interesting.... the older we get, the more we're like "ourselves" and not like our peer group.

Hotel Maids Study. Maids were generally poor, immigrants, and uneducated.

Two groups. Both did the same things. One group was told "Your job keeps you really healthy." That group had lower blood pressure and lost weight. Read about it in The Times.

A Yale study showed the most insidious form of 'ageism' - prejudice against the aging - is self-stereotyping. "Oh, I can't do it b/c I'm too old."

Does 84-yo Clint Eastwood believe he's too old to direct movies?

It's a sad fact that as we age, our contemporaries die.

Rich Fleisher had spoken to his mom/law years ago. She told him she was depressed.

Why, he asked. You have everything!

All my peers are gone, she said.

Talking about it helps. My 92-yo mom always calls me when one of her friends dies. I commiserate with her.

We all grew up in a historical time period, said Sarah.

At Brandywine, when I visited Ada's mom, they have reminders of things like






  and of course



Sarah writes the "Myths of Aging" column for Calkins newspapers. She went to school with one of the Calkins family members. Read her column here.

He was a CEO and told her There should be a mandatory retirement age.

There should NOT be a mandatory age, she said. Think of what the newspaper would be missing if he/she left. All the wisdom he's gathered and can share with the rest of the staff. Plus it's more economical not to hire and train someone new.

When Sarah gave a presentation in California at a nursing home, Sister David asked her, Would you like our memory games?

Yes indeed! These can be found on the Internet and can be useful tools in strengthening the memory.

Many of us in the room - including Rich, Ada and myself - are frequent exercisers.

B/c we exercise, we are actually changing the genomes in our brain. This is good to know!

Helpful handouts:  Click to enlarge.

Afterward, we all went downstairs and sat in the Coffee Shop and talked. Teresa was raised by her beloved grandmother in Jim Thorpe, PA, hence her accent. When her grandmother developed Alz's disease, Teresa's mother had no patience with her and once hit her in the head with a broom.

Sarah Kagan commented on this saying that elder abuse is common and is usually caused by uncontrollable stress in dealing with an elderly person.

We suggested that Teresa volunteer in a nursing home since she so enjoyed caring for her grandmother.

The Kirks - Betsey, Raighney and Will - were gonna see the movie "Still Alice" at the Hiway in Jenkintown.




Betsey said, "Let's not ruin the optimism I'm feeling after today's program."

I could never see those films - or read the books - about brilliant individuals - such as author Iris Murdoch - who undergo these horrific illnesses.

I've written about several of them, though.

Here's "Suite 1104," or whatever it's called, published in Writing Disorder. 


I am totally inspired by Sarah Kagan's talk. If you'll excuse me, up the stairs I go to my stationery bike, where I'll be mindful, like the hotel maids, of how my Ride to Nowhere is actually a Ride Toward Good Health.

And tomorrow, I'm doing something new, which invigorates our brains.

Am going to hear Pastor Ken Barkley give his sermon at the Willow Grove Bible Church just around the corner.