Commission on Aging

Lights! Camera! Action: We see a lovely bedroom, well furnished with a cozy bed and sheepskin bedside rug, low lighting, and stacks of books around the room. A pitcher of water sits within reach on the bedside table, covered with knickknacks. Our lead actor sits up and swings his feet over the edge of the bed, taking the cozy blanket with him. He pulls it up around his shoulders, letting his feet slide to the floor. And slide they do!

Have you ever noticed that similar themes seem to emerge in conversations among older adults? Yes, it could be retirement. It could be grandchildren. It could be health insurance, and it could be medications. Medications, those wonderful chemical compounds of varying price ranges that have extended our life expectancies, improved the quality of our lives (hopefully), and given us new topics of conversation. But while we might want to boast about the number of grandchildren we have or the generous retirement package we received, we most likely do not want to boast about the number of pills we are taking.

In Being Mortal, Atul Gawande tells us that a graph of the human population used to look like a triangle, with the young at the very bottom and the elderly at the small tip top. The graph has changed. Now the graph looks like a shoe box, with as many elderly at the top as youth at the bottom.

On May 31, 2015, 64 members of the diocese were honored with the David P. Hegg II Lifetime Achievement Award at the 19th annual Senior Ministries Evensong, held at St. Peter's Church in Morristown with the Rt. Rev. Mark M. Beckwith, Bishop of Newark, officiating.

Last year Richard Eisenberg, writing in Forbes Magazine, reported that 64% of all adult Americans do NOT have a will. He writes, “Incredibly 51% of Americans age 55 to 64 do not have wills…. Worse, 62% of those age 45 to 54 – and 67% of women that age haven’t drafted wills.”

On Sunday, May 31, Senior Ministries of the Diocese of Newark will present the David P. Hegg II Lifetime Achievement awards at a 4 p.m. evensong service at St. Peter’s, Morristown, following a 3 p.m. reception. Diocese of Newark seniors are recognized annually at this Senior Ministries evensong for their many significant contributions of time and talent to an Episcopal church or diocese. The awards are named in memory of a man who was a tireless advocate and innovator in matters of retirement and aging.

Three years ago, my husband, Ray, who was 73 at the time, had three surgeries in eight weeks over the summer. One surgery was planned, and the other two were not. To say that I learned a lot would be a gross understatement. I decided to make a list of everything I learned, in case my husband or any other loved one was ever in and out of two hospitals, two Intensive Care Units, two Emergency Rooms and rehab again.

“We don’t laugh because we’re happy, we are happy because we laugh.” – William James

Over the last 30 years, hundreds of researchers have studied the health benefits of humor and laughter for healthy and ill adults, children, teens and older adults. These studies have found that there are many physical, mental, and social benefits of laughter. Studies have also shown that we laugh less as we age, with pre-school children laughing up to 400 times a day, adults laughing on average about 17 times a day, and older adults laughing even less.