Love Thy Neighbor II

I enjoyed the article, “Love Thy Neighbor” by Karen Wyman (Williston Observer, May 3, 2012). It brought back memories of my own childhood. Though some of my memories are similar, others differ.

10. LAWN SERVICES.

When I was old enough, my parents did not mow the lawn. I did, and with a non-powered push mower.

9. DECLINE OF THE FRONT PORCH.

Our front porch was small, but we did see our neighbors. For example, every morning I waved ‘good bye’ to my neighbor as he drove off for work at 7:15. And he waved back!

8. THE INTERNET.

What people can do today via the Internet, as she suggests, is amazing. Our only tie to the outside world from inside the house was a desktop phone with an operator at the other end asking, “Number please.” Computers? Not even in businesses yet, let alone a home.

7. GYM MEMBERSHIPS.

I never saw many adults doing anything for exercise, inside or out. The kids relied on gym at school or riding their bikes around the neighborhood.

6. DUAL-INCOME FAMILIES.

Both of my parents worked. My mother only went back to work when I was old enough to care for myself. And then her job was only about 300 feet away at a dentist’s office. I could stop in anytime (though who would want to go to a dentist’s office anytime?).

5. NO FREE TIME.

I had plenty of free time as a kid. With no Internet and only one TV in the entire neighborhood, all of us had plenty of time to play as a family and enjoy the company of our neighbors. We were not compelled to “save time.”’

4. FEAR.

I was always taught, “Don’t speak to strangers.” The concern may be worse today, but apparently the threat has always been there— not with neighbors (even on the next street), rather the drive-by or several streets away.

3. LAZINESS.

We were not often asked for favors by neighbors, but we never lacked for energy and inventiveness. Imagine our parents’ anger when they discovered the kid across the street and I had drilled holes in both houses so we could string wire between them and have our telegraphs talking to each other. We even climbed trees to string the wire high enough over the street!

2. SCHOOL BUS STOPS.

Not only did the school bus not stop at every house, a student had to live more than 2 miles from school (as the crow flies) to be allowed on the bus. I guess that took the place of gyms and demonstrated lack of fear for strangers.

1. MASS MERCHANDISERS.

They did not exist. Yes, we went to our neighbors for eggs or sugar. We bought in small quantities and had little room for frozen foods. My grandfather often walked to the store down the street for ice cream for dinner. I loved him. I also remember him saying to my mom, “Vegetables in the freezer? When we found frozen vegetables, we threw them out.”

0. RIGHT ON!

To Karen, thanks for providing me with your trigger for thought. Well done.

Roger Crouse

Essex Junction

Attention historians

Attention historians young and old: Please plan to attend “Inventive Vermonters, Their Farm Tools and a Williston Man’s Contributions” on Saturday, May 19 at 1:30 p.m. at the Dorothy Alling Memorial Library. This will be a one-hour talk and slide presentation by local historian and writer Richard Allen and Paul Wood, collector of antique farm implements. There will be a special deal on the sale of books by the Williston Historical Society, sponsor of the program.

Terry Macaig, President

Williston Historical Society

Funding boost is weak effort

By Dwayne J. Clark

In February 2012, President Obama announced that he will boost funding for research on Alzheimer’s disease by $130 million—a 25 percent increase over the next two years, according to the Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders-University of California Irvine.

I applaud his intent but the effort is weak.

5.4 million people in the U.S. are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and the problem will only get worse. Every 68 seconds, someone develops Alzheimer’s in the United States, and by mid-century it will increase to 33 seconds. If you are privileged to be 65 years old or older, it will be your fifth leading cause of death by disease. If you are 85 years old or older, you have a 50 percent chance of getting the disease. Here is the whopper—currently about $200 billion is spent on Alzheimer’s care and over the next 40 years the disease will cost Americans $20 trillion, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Increasing funding by 25 percent is akin to putting a penny in front of a full-on fire hose and expecting the water to stop flowing.

Unfortunately, Alzheimer’s does not get the kind of press that cancer or AIDS does. Some would say that is because it’s a disease of the elderly. Others add that the elderly have led their lives; we can’t spend valuable money on people who will probably die of some other illness if they didn’t have Alzheimer’s. Well maybe, or maybe this is the first step toward better longevity for Americans in general.

Keep in mind that there are 200,000 people with early onset dementia (people who develop the disease before the age of 65). A friend contacted me about his wife. She was 50 years old, an incredible beach volleyball player, ran a marathon three months earlier, and bam, she was diagnosed with early onset dementia.  When we met, shortly after her diagnosis, she looked like she could be a cover girl for a women’s health magazine. Two years later, she can’t feed herself. This is getting more common than we would like to admit.

I watched my own mother develop Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. She was pulling slot machines and dancing the night away on her 80th birthday in Las Vegas. Two years later, at the age of 82, she was ravaged by the disease and residing in the assisted living company I own.

I have seen thousands suffer with Alzheimer’s through the course of my career in senior housing. This disease not only cripples the person to the point that her brain can’t tell the lungs to breathe or the throat to swallow, it has much larger ramifications. This disease at some point hits the “Delete Button” on your life.  You have no memories, no history, no relationships, no YOU. The victim is not the only person who has the disease—it affects all those that have loved that person and shared that person’s life.

It is time we stop thinking about this as an “old person’s disease” and start thinking about it as a disease with incredible ramifications for quality of life. We have to pull our heads out of the sand on this one because soon enough you and I will be those “old people.”

Dwayne J. Clark is the founder and CEO of Aegis Living, currently with 28 senior living communities in Washington, California, and Nevada, and the author of “My Mother, My Son: A true story of love, determination, and memories…lost” (2012, www.mymothermyson.com