Mountain Views News          Saturday, August 18, 2012

THE GOOD LIFE

13

 Mountain Views News Saturday August 18, 2012

SENIOR HAPPENINGS

RESOURCES TO HELP SENIORS WITH LOW VISION

Dear Savvy Senior:

What resources can you recommend to help seniors with incurable vision impairment? My wife has 
macular degeneration and has become very discouraged. Looking for Help

Dear Looking:

Unfortunately, there are nearly 2 million Americans, 
like your wife, living with macular degeneration 
today, making everyday tasks like cooking 
dinner, reading the newspaper or watching 
television extremely challenging. Here are some 
resources that can help. 

Vision Rehabilitation

The best place to get help living and coping with macular degeneration is at a vision rehabilitation 
agency. Typically run by state or nonprofit organizations, there are around 1,500 of these agencies 
scattered across the country that provide free or low-cost services to help seniors and their families 
who are living with all types of incurable vision impairments. 

While vision rehabilitation does not restore lost sight, it does help people maximize their existing 
sight, or, if they have no vision, it can equip them with techniques and tools to help them maintain 
an independent lifestyle. 

Services include counseling, along with training on how to perform daily living tasks with low vision, 
and how to use visual and adaptive devices and assistive technologies that can help improve quality 
of life. 

They also offer guidance for adapting your home that will make it safer and easier for your wife to 
maneuver, and can help her locate low-vision support groups in your area which is very helpful. Some 
agencies will even send their specialist out to work with her in the comfort of your own home. 

To find a vision rehabilitation agency in your area, call the American Foundation for the Blind referral 
line at 800-232-5463. 

If, however, you don’t live near a vision rehabilitation agency, you can also get help from an occupational 
therapist, or OT, who can provide low vision training in your home. Ask your ophthalmologist 
or doctor for a referral to an OT in your area. Your Area Agency on Aging (call 800-677-1116 
for contact information) can also help you find nearby therapists. Many health insurance providers, 
including Medicare, will pay for low vision training by an OT if prescribed by your eye doctor or 
healthcare provider. 

Online Help 

Another convenient place to find help for your wife is online at a terrific new website called VisionAware 
(visionaware.org). Created by the American Foundation for the Blind and the Reader’s 
Digest Partners for Sight Foundation, this site provides free information on eye conditions, along 
with dozens of practical tips and instructional videos on living with vision loss, including concepts 
for adapting your home to make it easier to navigate, techniques for traveling safely outside the home, 
and various tips on how to manage things like finances, medications, and other tasks like cooking, 
cleaning, grooming, reading, writing and more. 

It also offers a comprehensive list of low vision products and technologies that can help your wife stay 
active and independent, including product reviews that are published in their online magazine called 
“AccessWorld.” 

Other Resources

Two other good resources that can help you and your wife are the Ears for Eyes program and the MD 
Support website. 

Ears for Eyes (earsforeyes.info, 800-843-6816) is a nonprofit public charity that provides free audio 
lessons on cassette tapes, CDs and Internet downloads that teach adaptive daily living skills to the 
vision impaired and their caregivers. 

And mdsupport.org, which is a public service website for seniors living with macular degeneration 
that provides information and links to support groups across the country, and links to low-vision 
products, services and other resources that can help with many different needs.

Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.
org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book.

August Birthdays

Harry Enmark, Marcia Bent, Phyllis Chapman, 
Beverly Clifton, Karlene Englert, Joan Spears, 
Barbara Godley and Jane Zamanzadeh, Phyllis 
Bugh, Mary Kay Gifford, Marjorie Peterson, Susan 
Poulsen, Genevieve Stubbs, Joseph Kiss, Patricia 
Miranda, 


AUGUST ACTIVITIES

Senior Programs have returned to the Hart 
Park House enior Center, 222 W. Sierra 
Madre Blvd. in Memorial Park - Come by and 
see the changes!!


Mondays: City Hall & Lunch Café 

12 noon: Intervale Lunch Café: Come enjoy 
a hot meal with others. Donation for 
seniors (60+) of $2.00; visitors $3.75. Call 
355-0256 to make your daily reservation.

Tuesdays: 

 FREE blood pressure checks by Methodist 
Hospital Nurse; 11 am to 12 noon.

1:30 pm to 3:30 pm 

BINGO; NEW TIME 1-3PM cards are 
only 25 cents each so stop by & play

5:15 pm to 6:45 pm: Yoga; $6.00 - 50 
& over. Please call 355-5278 for more 
information

Wednesdays:

11 –11:45 am: Balance Class with Teryl. 
FREE class designed to improve balance 
& refresh the joints

12 noon: Intervale Lunch Café; daily reservations 
needed 355-0256

2nd Wednesday of the month: FREE Legal 
Consultations: 10-11:30 am. Appointments 
call 355-7394

Wii Wednesday - 1:00 pm or call the senior 
desk at 355-7394 to arrange another 
time & day to learn how to play. No previous 
experience or skills required and it is 
great exercise.

Thursdays:

1:00 to 3:30 pm: Game Day. Join us for 
Poker and more. Wii - 1:00 pm or call the 
senior desk at 355-7394 to arrange another 
time & day to learn how to play. No 
previous experience or skills required and 
it is great exercise. Please call for more 
information.

Fridays: Intervale Lunch Café; daily reservations 
needed 355-0256

1:00 pm to 1:45 pm: Strength Training 
with Lisa Brandley. FREE class of stretching 
with light hand weights while you sit.

Saturdays: 11:30 am: Senior Club brown 
bag lunch and BINGO at 12:30 pm. 

Meals-On-Wheels


Meals are delivered to home-
bound seniors by volunteer drivers 
through the YWCA Intervale 
Lunch Program M-F (with frozen meals for the 
weekend.) 

 Call the YWCA at (626) 214-9460 for more 
information. 


LUNCH & LEARN 

Join the Senior Community Commission

at the HART PARK HOUSE

 for a FREE presentation. Lunch is available 
for a $2 donation 

Call (626) 355-0256 by 

12 noon the day before. 

DIAL - A - RIDE TICKETS

Tickets can now be purchased at:

Sierra Madre City Hall

Sierra Madre Library

NEW! 

Senior Movie Program

The Hart Park House Senior Center is starting 
a brand new monthly movie program beginning 
Wednesday, August 15. 

Each month a movie will be shown at no fee 
in the City Council Chambers located in City 
Hall.

The movie for the month of August is, 

Invasion of the Body Snatchers, filmed in our 
very own Sierra Madre! 

All patrons are encouraged to join us monthly 
and it’s a great way to beat the summer heat.

Location: City Council Chambers, 232 W. Sierra 
Madre Blvd.

Time: 1:00pm-3:00pm

Cost: Free, no charge.

*Food is not allowed in the Council Chambers

2012 EXCURSIONS

NEWPORT BAY CHARTER BOAT 
CRUISE AND LUNCH

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Departure: Charter bus leaves at 9:15am 
from the Hart Park House Senior Center

Boat Charter: 11:00am-12:30pm

Arrival: Charter bus will arrive back in Sierra 
Madre at approximately 3:00pm

Cost: $20 includes transportation and tip 
(Does not include lunch)

More Info: Call the Hart Park House Senior 
Center at 626-355-7394. The 90 minute 
tour views the entire harbor, including 
the 7 Islands of Newport Bay. The tour is 
narrated by the experienced Captain and 
Crew. You will get a chance to see celebrity 
homes, sea lions, and much

more! For more information on the cruise 
please visit their website at www.funzoneboats.
com. Lunch will be on your own 
from 12:30-2:00pm in Newport Beach. 
Please be sure to register early as space is

limited. Registration is available at the Hart 
Park House at 222 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., 
Community Recreation Center at 611 E. Sierra 
MadreBlvd. or online at www.cityofiserramadre.
com/onlineregistration.


DELICIOUS, BUT UGLY

 The other day at lunch, the restaurant was busy and the service was 
slow. That was fine, because I love to people-watch. A couple sat down a 
few tables away from us. The lady’s outfit was on the dressier side of casual. 
The guy’s clothes were too nondescript to recall. Their posture and gestures 
suggested that this was their first or second date. It was all very charming 
until she began eating --buffalo wings.

 You can’t really blame her. Who doesn’t like 
buffalo wings? They’re a staple bar food along 
with pretzel mix and peanuts. Buffalo wings 
represent the perfect marriage of food vices. Most 
other bar favorites are simply bastardizations of 
otherwise healthy foods. Take onion rings and 
French fries. Onions and potatoes are innocuous 
enough until you coat one in batter and fry both. 
But with buffalo wings, it’s delicious fat from 
start to finish. You begin with the fatty dark 
meat of mini chicken legs, then subject them to 
the fattiness of frying. Finally, they are ready to 
be dunked in calorie-dense blue cheese dipping 
sauce! What’s not to love? The only health threat 
lacking is high fructose corn syrup.

 Although we all agree that buffalo wings are to 
die for (and perhaps to die by), they are not the 
sexiest food to be seen eating. I’m sure someone 
could delicately nibble at a chicken leg, dabbing 
their mouth periodically. But to enjoy buffalo 
wings to their fullest, you must suck the bones 
clean of every muscle, sinew, and tendon. As you 
can imagine, this isn’t a pretty picture.

 Once you’re in a stable relationship, it’s acceptable to suck a chicken bone in front of your 
beloved. (If not, then you should dump that judgmental jerk right now!) But what’s a first-
time date to do? I’m so glad I’m not dating any more. Life is stressful enough without having 
to worry about ordering etiquette-friendly food.

 Of course, any food can be challenging depending on how much of a klutz (or how 
nervous) you are. Hamburgers are always a challenge. The Carl’s Jr. ads make the models 
look great eating them. But I’ve never been able to pull it off without stuffing my face into 
the thing to take a bite, or having burger juice run down my arm. I think the Carl’s Jr. ads 
must require many takes.

 Some people think spaghetti and other stringy pastas are uncomely to eat in public, unless 
you’re trained in dining etiquette. The fear is that you might slurp up a noodle. Or you might 
misjudge the amount of pasta on your fork, forcing you to bite off the remainder onto your 
plate. Of course, these strategies should be perfectly acceptable once you’ve known each 
other for a month or so. At that point, you may even get away with further pasta violations, 
such as cutting all the spaghetti on your plate into two-inch pieces before eating it.

 Come to think of it, I’ve really been lucky when it comes to avoiding making a total fool of 
myself while eating. I haven’t had crunchy tacos in years, but I’m sure I’m still just as clumsy 
with the shells and crumbly beef as when last I ate one. If you limit your choices to salads, 
the worst that can happen is puncturing a cherry tomato and squirting its juice into your 
date’s eye. Luckily I’ve only experienced this among family, and the juice recipient was my 
shirt, rather than a guest.

 So, if this week finds you having a first or second date, I wish for you gracefulness and, for 
your date, tolerance. And if you should be so blessed as to not have to worry about what you 
look like while eating, enjoy a juicy burger or some buffalo wings!