Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, May 5, 2018

THE GOOD LIFE

10

Mountain Views-News Saturday, May 5, 2018 

NEW SHINGLES VACCINE PROVIDES BETTER 
PROTECTION FOR SENIORS

SENIOR HAPPENINGS


HAPPY BIRTHDAY! …May Birthdays*

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

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

 

 

Hawaiian & Polynesian Dance Class: Every Tuesday morning from 10a.m. to 
11a.m. Join the class with Instructor Barbara Dempsey as she leads you in the 
art of Hula. 

Bingo Time: Every Tuesday beginning at 1:00p.m. Cards are only $0.25 each! 
Everyone is welcome to join. Activity may be canceled if less than five people. 

Free Blood Pressure Testing: 2nd Tuesdays of the month from 11a.m. to 12p.m. No appt. is necessary. 

Brain Games: Join us on Thursday, April 19th at 10:30a.m. to 11:30a.m for Scattergories, a creative 
thinking game by naming objects within a set of categories; or Jenga, a block-building challenge that 
keeps you stacking and balancing your tower. Everyone is welcome, and no experience is needed. What 
a great way to strengthen your brain and make new friends. Games facilitated by Senior Volunteers. 

Free Legal Consultation: Wednesday, April 18th from 10:30am to Noon. Attorney Lem Makupson is 
available for legal consultation. Specializing in Family Law, Wills, Trusts, Estates, and Injury. Please 
call Hart Park House for an appointment, 626-355-7394. 

Senior Club: Meets every Saturday at the Hart Park House Senior Center. Brown Bag Lunch at 
11:30a.m. 

Chair Yoga: Mondays & Wednesdays from 11:00a.m. to 11:45a.m. with Paul Hagen. Classes include 
Yoga and balance exercises. All ability levels are encouraged and welcomed!

* A voluntary donation of $5.00 per week is suggested but not required.

Birthday Celebrations: Every 2nd Thursday monthly at the Hart Park House, share some free 
birthday cake provided by the Sierra Madre Civic Club! 

Free Strength Training Class: Fridays from 12:45p.m. to 1:30p.m. with Lisa Brandley. This 
energetic class utilizes light weights, low impact resistance training and body conditioning. Class 
equipment is provided. 

Tax Assistance: Every Wednesday beginning on February 7th through April 11th from 1:00p.m. 
to 2:00p.m ...Don Brunner is available for income tax consultation... 
**Appointments are required by calling the Hart Park House Office 626-355-7394**

 ** Call Community Services Department for details about the “Ear to Ear Program” returning in 
2018** 626 - 355 - 5278

Dear Savvy Senior,

A good friend of mine got a bad case of shingles 
last year and has been urging me to get vaccinated. 
Should I? 

Suspicious Susan

Dear Susan,

Yes! If you’re 50 or older, there’s a new shingles 
vaccine on the market that’s far superior to 
the older vaccine, so now is a great time to get 
inoculated. Here’s what you should know. 

 Shingles, also known as herpes zoster, is a 
burning, blistering, often excruciating skin rash 
that affects around 1 million Americans each 
year. The same virus that causes chickenpox 
causes shingles. What happens is the chickenpox 
virus that most people get as kids never leaves the 
body. It hides in the nerve cells near the spinal 
cord and, for some people, emerges later in the 
form of shingles. 

 In the U.S., almost one out of every three 
people will develop shingles during their lifetime. 
While anyone who’s had chickenpox can get 
shingles, it most commonly occurs in people over 
age 50, along with people who have weakened 
immune systems. But you can’t catch shingles 
from someone else.

 Early signs of the disease include pain, itching 
or tingling before a blistering rash appears several 
days later, and can last up to four weeks. The rash 
typically occurs on one side of the body, often as 
a band of blisters that extends from the middle of 
your back around to the breastbone. It can also 
appear above an eye or on the side of the face or 
neck.

 In addition to the rash, about 20 to 25 percent 
of those who get shingles go on to develop severe 
nerve pain (postherpetic neuralgia, or PHN) that 
can last for months or even years. And in rare 
cases, shingles can also cause strokes, encephalitis, 
spinal cord damage and vision loss.

New Shingles Vaccine

The Food and Drug Administration recently 
approved a new vaccine for shingles called 
Shingrix (see Shingrix.com), which provides 
much better protection than the older vaccine, 
Zostavax. 

 Manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, Shingrix 
is 97 percent effective in preventing shingles in 
people 50 to 69 years old, and 91 percent effective 
in those 70 and older. 

 By comparison, Zostavax is 70 percent effective 
in your 50s; 64 percent effective in your 60s; 41 
percent effective in your 70s; and 18 percent 
effective in your 80s. 

 Shingrix is also better that Zostavax in 
preventing nerve pain that continues after a 
shingles rash has cleared – about 90 percent 
effective versus 65 percent effective.

 Because of this enhanced protection, the 
Center for Disease Control and Prevention 
recommends that everyone age 50 and older, 
receive the Shingrix vaccine, which is given in 
two doses, two to six months apart. 

 Even if you’ve already had shingles, you still 
need these vaccinations because reoccurring 
cases are possible. The CDC also recommends 
that anyone previously vaccinated with Zostavax 
be revaccinated with Shingrix.

 You should also know that Shingrix can 
cause some adverse side effects for some people, 
including muscle pain, fatigue, headache, fever 
and upset stomach. 

 Shingrix – which costs around $280 for both 
doses – is (or will soon be) covered by insurance 
including Medicare Part D prescription drug 
plans, but be aware that the shingles vaccines 
are not always well covered. So before getting 
vaccinated, call your plan to find out if it’s covered, 
and if so, which pharmacies and doctors in your 
area you should use to insure the best coverage.

 Or, if you don’t have health insurance or you’re 
experiencing medical or financial hardship, you 
might qualify for GlaxoSmithKline’s Patient 
Assistance Program, which provides free 
vaccinations to those who are eligible. For details, 
go to GSKforyou.com.

 

 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.


KATIE Tse..........This and that

I’M STILL SO GLAD I’M NOT 

YOUNG ANYMORE!

This article originally appeared 
in the Mountain Views New 
years ago. But even after all this 
time, I’m STILL so glad I didn’t go to prom!

 Youth is a wonderful thing. The young are 
mostly healthy, beautiful, 
and, in middle and upper 
class America, blissfully 
unacquainted with the 
harsh realities of financial 
self-reliance and a 
diminished metabolism. 
Youth involves rites of 
passage. Kids learn to drive. 
Girls get training bras; 
boys’ voices go through a 
crackling journey to manly 
tones. Everyone needs to 
use deodorant, contrary to 
the belief that “some people 
don’t sweat.” And usually 
somewhere in there is a 
“formal dance.”

 Stopped in traffic by 
the Arboretum one spring 
day, I noticed a fashion 
shoot taking place on a 
grassy knoll. Five women, 
in thigh-high halter-
top dresses, posed as the 
photographer fired off 
rapid shots. After they were 
finished, the group headed 
toward some young men in 
suits and tuxedos. As the 
women awkwardly stepped 
into a stretch Hummer it 
dawned on me. That’s not 
a fashion a shoot –that’s 
someone’s prom! 

 It goes without saying that proms have changed 
over the years. My mom enjoys telling how she 
fooled her date (a well-known prankster) by 
opening the front door in a very old fashioned, 
dumpy dark turquoise taffeta dress and her 
Stouffer’s waitress shoes (think the Queen Mum). 
She and her dad got a big laugh after he snapped a 
picture of the boy’s horrified face. She then changed 
in to her real dress. Yes, things are different these 
days... 

 I have a few regrets about my youth. I wish 
I had put more effort into my second language 
courses (although I doubt it would’ve helped), and 
I suppose it might’ve been good to attempt a sport. 
But one thing I’ve never regretted is not going to 
prom! I know that sounds bitter and antisocial, 
but even approaching 20 years later, I can still say I 
didn’t miss a thing!

 In the same vein as class elections, proms 
seemed to be another means of social exclusion. 
Every detail of the night involved decisions about 
who was “in” and who was “out.” Who’s house do 
we meet up at? Who’s riding 
in the [ostentatious vehicle 
of choice]? Who’s sitting at 
our table? There’s only room 
for eight, so that eliminates 
[the least-liked classmate].” 
It gave me a nervous ulcer 
just listening to it. To 
drive home the point that 
prom was overrated, my 
boyfriend-less friends all 
complained about their 
dates’ behavior the next 
day at school. Heck, even 
some of the girls who had 
boyfriends complained! 

 Of course, another reason I 
nixed the prom was because 
I’m cheap. I just couldn’t 
rationalize the cost of the 
tickets, dress, etc. Even as 
an unemployed teenager, 
I had some concept of the 
value of money. On top of 
everything else, prom tends 
to bring out the worst in 
people –administrators as 
well as students. There’s 
always a few headlines 
about some poor kid getting 
kicked out of prom for a 
dumb reason. Back when 
I first submitted this article, 
a boy in the Midwest asked 
his crush to the prom by 
writing “Will you go to the prom with me?” on 
a large poster. And she said “Yes!” Aww! But 
there was trouble in paradise when the villainous 
principal banned the boy from the prom because 
his placement of the sign was against school rules. 
In response to the national outcry against her 
decision, the principal finally reneged and allowed 
the young lovers to attend the prom. It would be 
one thing if this were an isolated incident, but it 
seems that every year there’s some news story 
about power-crazed administrators concocting 
frivolous reasons for excluding students from the 
prom. One girl was denied admission because she 
came without a date. It’s bad enough if you can’t 
get a date, let alone the school broadcasting it! Like 
Maurice Chevalier crooned, “I’m --STILL-- so glad 
I’m not young anymore!”


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