Mountain Views News          Saturday, May 10, 2014

Mountain Views News Saturday, May 10, 2014 
11THE GOOD LIFE Mountain Views News Saturday, May 10, 2014 
11THE GOOD LIFE 
HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR DOCTOR’S VISIT 

Dear Savvy Senior:
Can you write a column educating patients on how to prepare for doctors appointments? I manage a 
number of small health clinics, and have found that patients – especially seniors – that come prepared 
when they visit our doctors are much more satisfied with the care they receive. Thanks for your help. 
Patient Educator 

Dear Educator: 

You’re right. Studies have shown that patients 
who help their doctors by providing important 
health information and preparing themselves 
for appointments tend to get better care than patients 
who don’t. Here are some simple things we 
can all do to help maximize our next visit to the doctor. 


 
Before Your Appointment 

Gathering your health information and getting organized before your appointment are the key steps 
to ensuring a productive meeting with your doctor. This is especially important if you’re seeing multiple 
doctors or are meeting with a new physician for the first time. Specifically, you need to: 

Get your test results: Make sure the doctor you’re seeing has copies of your latest X-ray, MRI or any 
other test or lab results, including reports from other doctors that you’ve seen. In most cases, you’ll 
need to do the leg work yourself which may only require a phone call to your previous doctor asking 
them to send it, or you may need to go pick it up and take it yourself.

 List your medications: Make a list of all the medications you’re taking (prescription drugs, over-thecounter 
medications, vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements) along with the dosages and take it 
with you to your appointment. Or, just gather up all you pill bottles and put them in a bag and bring 
them with you. 

Gather your health history: Your doctor also needs to know about any previous hospitalizations, as 
well as any current or past medical problems, even if they are not the reason you are going to the 
doctor this time. Genetics matter too, so having your family’s health history can be helpful. The U.S. 
Surgeon General offers a free web-based tool called “My Family Health Portrait” (see familyhistory.
hhs.gov) that can help you put one together.

 Prepare a list of questions: Make a written list of the top three or four issues you want to discuss with 
your doctor. Since most appointments last between 10 and 15 minutes, this can help you stay on track 
and ensure you address your most pressing concerns first. If you’re in for a diagnostic visit, you should 
prepare a detailed description of your symptoms. 

 During Your Appointment 

The best advice when you meet with your doctor is to speak up. Don’t wait to be asked. Be direct, honest 
and as specific as possible when recounting your symptoms or expressing your concerns. Many 
patients are reluctant or embarrassed to talk about their symptoms, which makes the doctor’s job a lot 
harder to do. It’s also a good idea to bringing along a family member or friend to your appointment. 
They can help you ask questions, listen to what the doctor is telling you and give you support. 

Also consider taking some notes or ask the doctor if you can record the session for later review. If you 
don’t understand what the doctor is telling you, ask him or her to explain it in simple terms so you can 
understand. And if you run out of time and don’t get your questions answered, ask if you can follow 
up by phone or email, make another appointment, or seek help from the doctor’s nurse. 

Savvy tip: The National Institute on Aging offers a booklet called “Talking With Your Doctor: A 
Guide for Older People” that provides great information including a variety of questions to ask that 
can help you be a more informed patient. To get a free copy mailed to you, call 800-222-2225 or visit 
www.nia.nih.gov. 

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. 


EMBARRASSMENT: AND OTHER 
STRONG MOTIVATORS

 Organization has never come naturally to me. As a child, I remember somewhat 
helplessly stuffing school papers into my desk or backpack. My parents would question 
my "filing system" as I retrieved months-old crumpled papers. "Hey," I'd say, "I 
didn't loose them!" I grew up with the adage, "A place for everything and everything in its place." The 
only problem was that I kept changing the places for things, and then forget where those places where.


 You'd think that surviving through higher education would instill great organizational skills in me. 
Nope! I don't think my problem is that I can't categorize things, it is more that some things can fit into 
several categories. This puts me at a loss of where to categorize them. Every so often I feel compelled 
to devote serious time to organizing my things. However, after half an hour of shuffling through papers, 
I'm no farther along than I was when I started. It's at this point that I sigh and stuff everything 
back where I had it (hoping that I'd remember its location if I ever needed to!). Often "where I had it" 
is either an overflowing filing cabinet, or in the case of my work, a burgeoning supply closet.

 I refer to this storage space as "the closet of doom." On my own behalf, I wasn't totally at fault 
because it was already stuffed beyond capacity when I inherited my job from my predecessor. My 
company isn't the sort of place where people pack all their office belongings into a tidy little box when 
they leave. Oh no --they leave all their materials for the next guy. Of course I was extremely grateful 
for the surplus of supplies available to me when I first started out. However, even then it was hard 
walking into another person's organization system and trying to make sense of it. There were many 
things I never used, but felt unable to toss, since they were "the company's." And since the lady before 
me found them useful, who was I to get rid of them? These were inevitably stuffed into the closet of 
doom.

 The door-less closet of doom stayed dormant for years. Occasionally its contents would pile up 
around the entrance, creating a potential avalanche. I shuddered every time I put anyhing in there. 
This year, I actually asked my mom to sew me a curtain to hide the mess, which she did (thanks, 
Mom!). Who knows how long this closet could have kept growing if not for a recent request from 
my new boss!

 My old boss retired recently, and we now have a new commander in chief. He's been very sweet, 
and so far, we've all had nothing but good experiences with him. However, it's always prudent to 
please your boss --especially during the "first impressions" phase.

 Last week, my new boss casually informed me that another new employee would need to store 
some boxes in my office, and asked if I could please make room for say --forty banker boxes. Whoa! 
I can barely hide my own junk! (But that's not a great admission to make.) "Sure." I replied via email, 
"Send the boxes over!"

 Let me tell you, I've never embodied the phrase, "bust and move" until now! Not only did I clear 
away my own junk, but I excavated specimens from the 90's, 80's, and (yes) 70's! It was like an archaeological 
dig, without the sexiness of Indiana Jones. At last I saw something I'd never before 
laid eyes upon --the back wall of my supply closet. I doubt it's seen the light of day in thirty years. 
Unfortunately, there were some things I actually wanted to save. So I heaped them in the middle of 
my office until the closet had been filled with whatever my co-worker needed to store. So, to anyone 
walking by, it looked like I had a pile of rubble in my office.

 Nevertheless, I wanted to "share the moment" with someone, but admitting my poor organizational 
skills to my coworkers would've killed the joy I felt. (I'm sure they've suspected it all this time, but 
admission only confirms their suspicions.)

 Finally ready, I called the custodian (who doubles as the ultimate tech-support for the company, 
but that's another story) to start loading up my closet with my new co-worker's things. He stopped in 
his tracks at the sight of my empty closet and breathed, "Whoa...." I was proud.

 "You know, though," he said, "The board is visiting this week, so we won't be able to load the boxes 
until next week, or maybe the week after." I was still smiling at him like an idiot when he clarified the 
situation for me, "You'll need to move all this stuff back (the stuff in the middle of my office). Maybe 
we can load the new things next week." Even though most of my co-workers have now seen the junk 
heap in my office, I don't mind. Even though the custodian/tech genius probably thinks I'm too quick 
to jump the gun, I still don't mind. I've seen the back wall of my closet, which I know I would've 
never seen if all this hadn't taken place. If for no other reason, I'm glad it gave me the impetus to 
actually CLEAN my closet. Who knows how many decades it would've sat untouched otherwise... 

SENIOR HAPPENINGS 


FYI - STC (SENIOR TEXTING CODES) from Jonathon McKee 

Since more and more seniors citizens are texting and tweeting, there appears to be a need for a STC 
(Senior Texting Code). If you qualify for senior discounts, these are the codes for you: 

ATD: At The Doctor’s

 BFF: Best Friend Farted

 BTW: Bring The Wheelchair

 BYOT: Bring Your Own Teeth

CBM: Covered By Medicare

 CUATSC: See You At The Senior Center

 DWI: Driving While Incontinent

FWB: Friend With Beta Blockers

 FWIW: Forgot Where I Was

FYI: Found Your Insulin

 GGPBL: Gotta Go, Pacemaker Battery Low!

 GHA: Got Heartburn Again

 IMHO: Is My Hearing-Aid On?

 LMDO: Laughing My Dentures Out

 LOL: Living On Lipitor

 LWO: Lawrence Welk’s On

 OMMR: On My Massage Recliner

 OMSG: Oh My! Sorry, Gas.

 ROFL… CGU: Rolling On The Floor Laughing…Can’t Get Up

 TTYL: Talk To You Louder

 WAITT: Who Am I Talking To?

 WTP: Where’s The Prunes?

 WWNO: Walker Wheels Need Oil 

...................................................................................................................... 



HELPFUL HINT: Got Ants? To banish ants from the kitchen, find out 
where they are coming in and cover the hole with petroleum jelly. Ants won’t trek 
through the jelly. If they are coming under a door, draw a line on the floor with 
chalk. The little bugs also won’t cross a line of chalk. 

........................................................................................ 


FOR YOUR FUNNY BONE 

An elderly woman died last month. Having never married, she requested no male 
pallbearers. In her handwritten instructions for her memorial service, she wrote, 
“They wouldn’t take me out while I was alive, I don’t want them to take me out 

when I’m dead! 
~ ~ ~ 


HAPPY BIRTHDAY! … May Birthdays* 

Joann Serrato-Chi, Harriett Lyle, Jean Coleman, Birgitta Gerlinger, Donna Mathieson, 

Dorothy Murphy, Linda Wochnik, Marian Woodford, Debbie Sheridan, Joanne Anthony, 

Carole Axline, Kika Downey, Shirley Hall, Annie Scalzo, Janet Ten Eyck, Jane Thomas, Ray 

Burley. . *To add your name to this distinguished list, please call the paper at 626.355.2737. YEAR 
of birth not required. 
.................................................................. 

Quote of the Week: “Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around.” 
Henry David Thoreau 

.................................................................. 



ACTIVITIES: Unless listed differently, all activities are at the Hart Park 
House (Senior Center) 222 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre

 YMCA San Gabriel Valley Intervale Senior Café: Monday-Friday at 12:00 Noon 

(Participants are urged to arrive no later than 11:45 A.M.)
All seniors 60 and up can take part in the lunch program. There is a suggested donation of $2.00 
for those 60 and over and $3.75 for non-senior guests. Daily reservations are necessary as space is 
limited. Please call 24 hours in advance...626.355.0256 

Free Balance Class: Monday, January 27th 11:00 to 11:45 with Shannon Vandevelde. A variety of 
balance exercises are practiced; all ability levels are encouraged and welcomed. 

Free Blood Pressure Testing: Held Second Tuesday of the month from 11:00 am-12:00 pm: No 
appointment necessary. 

Bingo: Every Tuesday afternoon from 1:00 pm- 3:00 pm Cards are only .25c each! 

Chair Yoga Update: This class has become so popular that Instructor Paul Hagen has agreed tooffer another class. Starting Monday, April 7th chair yoga will meet twice a week on Mondays and 
Wednesdays from 11:00 to 11:45 am, except on the third Monday of the month when the balance 
class is held. Due to the demand for this class and Paul Hagen’s time a suggested donation of $5 at 
one of the classes is requested, but is not required. If you have any questions please feel free to stop 
by or give us a call 626.355.7394 

Free Legal Consultation: Pasadena attorney Lem Makupson volunteers on the 2nd Wednesday of 
the month. He focuses on estate planning, trusts, wills, probate, conservatorships and business law. 
*Appointments are a must! Please call: 626.355.7394 to make yours 

Birthday Celebrations: The 2nd Thursday of the month the Senior Center celebrates the birthdays 
of our patrons at 12:30 pm. Please join us for free cake and ice cream and “celebration.” (The cakes 
are provided due to a generous donation from the Sierra Madre Civic Club.) 

Game Day: Every Thursday at 1:00pm. Poker is usually the game of choice, or should I say chance? 
Board games and other card games are also available. 

Free Strength Training Class: Every Friday from 1:00 pm -1:45 pm Conducted by long-time 
volunteer, Lisa Brandley. The class utilizes light weights for low-impact resistance training. Weights 
are provided by the Sierra Madre Senior Center. 

Senior Citizens Club: Every Saturday at the Hart Park House (Senior Center). Brown bag lunch at 
11:30am; Club meeting at Noon; Bingo 12:30- 3:30 pm. Only .25c per card. 

LUNCH & LEARN: EXTREME HEAT Wednesday, May 28th • 12:00 to 1:00 pm

As you prepare for the summer season it is important to take preventative measures to avoid heat 
related illnesses such as heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Debra Watson, LVN from Home Care 
Providers, will provide educational materials and tips to avoid these dangerous conditions. Mark 
your calendars and don’t miss this great presentation with valuable information. If you would like 
to have lunch during the talk please call the Senior Lunch Café at 626.355.0256 or bring your own. 

SEASONAL FUN AT THE SENIOR CENTER 

On Thursday, May 15th join us and the Garden Club in making FREE Succulent Gardens. You will 
be able to create your own mini garden to take home. The activity will take place from 10:30 to 
11:45, reservations are required. If you have any questions please feel free to stop by or give us a call 
at 626.355.7394. 

UPCOMING EXCURSIONS: 

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum (Simi Valley, CA) Date: Friday, May 16, 2014Time: 9:00am to 3:30pmMeeting Location: Hart Park House Senior Center Cost: $20.00 (does not include lunch)
Spend the day exploring the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. The guided tour is 
approximately 2 hours and includes an opportunity to see Air Force One, a replica of the Oval Office, 
and the exhibit “Honoring Legends of Baseball,” a limited time engagement. The special exhibit 
will display extraordinary artifacts from Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson, 
the Los Angeles Dodgers, and scores of other historically important players and organizations. 
Participants are asked to bring additional money for souvenirs and lunch; tworestaurants are available on site. Last day to register is Thursday, May 1. Level of Walking: Moderate 

SENIOR CINEMA: 1ST & 3RD WEDNESDAY 

*Change in Venue* Shown at the Hart Park House Senior Center 

May 7th: Saving Mr. Banks (2013) 

Author P.L. Travers reflects on her childhood after reluctantly meeting with Walt Disney, who seeks 
to adapt her Mary Poppins books for the big screen. Rated PG-13, Start time: 1:00 pm (run time 125 
minutes) Featuring: Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, and Annie Rose Buckley 

May 21st: Captain Phillips (2013) 

The true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the US-flagged 
MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years. Rated PG13, 
Start time: 1:00 pm (run time 143 minutes) Featuring: Tom Hanks and Barkhad Abdirahman.


YOUR AD COULD BE HERE!
Call Patricia at 626-818-2698 Today!