Edmonton Journal from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada • 35

rvw www rm rm 9 rm-m mi rM PRIME EDMONTON JOURNAL FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2007 C3 GOOD WORKS Med students get taste of agin; Game provides insight into the struggles elderly patients endure on a daily basis it -f (- .1 BILL GLAUBER Milwaukee journal Sentinel MILWAUKEE What does it feel like to be old? student, has some ideas. Her greatgrandfather turned 101 last month and gave up farm chores only last year, after he fell off a tractor. But Peterson admits she doesn't know it all. So on a recent day, Peterson and scores of other young students at the Medical College of Wisconsin were "old," if only for a few minutes. They played The Ag-ingGame, simulating whatlife is like for seniors who have chronic health issues.

Peterson said the game showed her aging "is more difficult than you realize, especially the eyesight and the hearing." Most of the Wauwatosa school's medical students won't be going into gerontology, but like it or not, they'll be dealing with aging. They are the doctors of the future, and they'll be treating the vast baby boom generation as it slides into retirement. "If you're going to be a doctor in the 21st century, unless you're a pediatrician, you're taking care of old peo- pie," said Edmund H. Duthie chief of geriatrics and gerontology at the college. Duthie said he and others constantly hear from elderly patients that doctors just don't get what it's like to be old.

That's a problem that has to change, he said. So every year, students are brought together to play The Aging Game. They're not learning empathy they're learning sense and touch, and perhaps howto listen to elderly patients. "When you're 20-something, it's land of hard to put yourself in the shoes of someone 85 and disabled," Duthie said. "It's a chance to walk around in someone's shoes." Peterson and Jennifer Hanson, 24, did the circuit together.

They put on headphones and tried to make sense of muffled sounds, tried to decipher the words they heard. They each got one word right, out of 10. lj 35te April Peterson, 25, a medical student, tries on a pair of glasses that simulates what a Next up: wheelchairs. "Do you want to At the "taste" table, they sipped dilut- race?" Hanson said. They headed off in ed juices to get a sense of how some se- opposite directions.

They struggled to niors experience sweet, sour and bitter open doors, get through small openings, tastes, to understand why some seniors They huffed and puffed. And they might oversalt their food or put in too weren't even carrying any packages much sugar. Their arms hurt. At the "smell" table, they held their To simulate what it's like to struggle noses and ate Hershey's Kisses, notic- with arthritis, they each put on a glove ing how a lack of a sense of smell af- and carefully picked up pills and opened fects the sense of taste. Peterson finally pill bottles.

inhaled and said, "It does taste better. At Curiosity and love key to youthfulness o-r-T 1 -J I Voices for Unity, March 23, 7 to 9:30 p.m. An evening of music, drama and poetry in support of the Northern Alberta Alliance on Race Relations. Tickets $15 online at www.naarr.org, or call 425-4644, ext.1. I Charity Concert, March 23 at the Powerplant, University of Alberta, in support of the Canadian Liver Foundation, featuring the bands Ellis and Thisgirl Thatboy.

For tickets call Carmen at the Foundation, 444-1 547. I Ukrainian Mosaic, March 24, 10 to 5 p.m.; March 25, 12 noon to 4 p.m. at the Ukrainian National Federation hall, 10629 98th St. A showcase of Ukrainian dance, song, music folk arts and food to support orphanages in Ukraine. Call 469-4890.

-I Pancake Breakfast, March 24, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Tofield Legion, 4909 52nd Ave. in support of The Lung Association. Contact Dennis Glasson at 662-3629.

I Supper and Silent Auction, March 24, 6:30 p.m. at Bonnie Doon Hall, 9240 93rd in support of One Child's Village: A Global Orphans Foundation. Tickets $30. Call Todd Lorentz at 433-3342, or StillPoint Healing Centre, 452-9388. I Original Joe's Frozen Frenzy, March 25, 11 a.m.

to 4 p.m. at Terwillegar Original Joe's, 2323 Rabbit Hill Road. Street Hockey Classic in support of Edmonton's Food Bank. 1 I Ken's Tournament of Hope and Awareness baseball tournament, May 26 and 27, in support of the Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada, at Centennial Diamonds in Sherwood Park. The registration deadline is March 29.

Visit www.keristournament.com. I Changing Lives Dinner and Silent Auction, March 30, 6:30 p.m. at Santa Maria Goretti Community Centre, 11050 90th St. in support of Edzimkulu, helping those affected by HIV-AIDS in Ndawana, South Africa. Tickets $75 in advance.

Contact Tammie at 481-8877, or visit www.Edzimkulu.org. Volunteers Wanted I C.A.R.E. Housing Society needs volunteer board members. This nonprofit society owns and operates group homes for disabled adults. Call Rita Harper at 459-5357 or e-mail: care housing societylycos.com.

I Alberta Diabetes Foundation needs office volunteers to answer phones and do data entry. Call Denise or Valerie at 447-2643. I The Faith, Fitness and Fun 5km Run and Walk needs volunteers for April 28. Contact Tracey Harrison at 447-2993, ext. 256.

I KARA Foundation needs people to offer their water gardens for either July 14 or 1 5 for the annual Water Garden Tour. Call Rose-Marie at 439-4884 or visit www.karafoundation.org. Seniors Driving needs volunteers to drive seniors to medical appointments, groceries, etc. Insurance costs covered under average person's insurance; we pay the gas. Call 732-1221.

Bazaars and Garage Sales I Bake Sale, March 24, 10 a.m. at St. Anthony's Ukrainian Orthodox Church, 6103 172nd St. I I've Outgrown It Sale, gently used children's clothing, gear and toys, March 24, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

at Kenilworth Community Hall, 7104 87th Ave. Call 450-0499. To include your fundraising event send us the date and time, nature of activity and phone number for public contact by Monday prior to the publication date. Events can be publicized for two weeks. Send to: goodworksthejournal.can-west.co fax 429 -5500 or mail to Good Works, The journal, Box 2421, Edmonton, Tips on spring decor SUPPLIED Edmonton home decor maven Stasia Nawrocki is just back from Ambiente, the world's largest home-ware show in Frankfurt, and she's filled with great ideas.

She'll be presenting a seminar on spring decorating at Greenland Garden Centre this Saturday (Mar. 24) at 1 1 a.m. and 1 p.m. Contrary to what appeared in Thursday's At Home section, registration is required, although admission is free. To register, please call 467-7557.

Greenland Garden Centre is in Sherwood Park at the intersection of Highway 16 and Cloverbar Road. Aging is just another developmental stage, says author KATIE ROOK CanWest News Service Sherwin Nuland was a surgeon and Yale University professor before he began winning awards as an author. His exposure to patients facing health crises revealed patterns in the way people heal or don't. Those recovering from cancer surgery, for example, would routinely improve within three to four months and then divide into two groups: those who committed to improved health and those who devolved into a state of fragility, he said. "It isn't the hit you take, it's your response to the hit that you take.

You watch them over a period of a year or two, and one of them is likely to go on to an enriching, rewarding life, a healthy life, continue keeping his or her body in shape, and the other is likely to go into a period of decline in which they think of themselves as an invalid and 'a cancer patient' "Not that the other fellow ever forgets he's got cancer. He has to watch for it, but he doesn'tthinkofhimself as being sick" It is a perspective that inspires Nuland's latest book, The Art of Aging Well, and also whatgets the 76-year-old to the gym each day. For years, he has travelled the world toting weights, gym shorts and running shoes to use when he isn't promoting his books. "You start thinking of yourself as the kind of person who does these things," he said during an interview last week "That's the way it was for me with the gym. 'Oh my, I am one of these guys who goes to the So I did more and more." In his new book, Nuland examines the physical inevitabilities of aging some- NEWSCOM person might see if they had glaucoma.

least I can breathe." They finished up with vision, putting on glasses smudged with Vaseline to replicate what it's like to have cataracts. Other glasses gave a sense of what it's like to have macular degeneration. "This makes it real," Hanson said. "This makes you appreciate aging." For a fewminutes, the students learned that growing old is not easy and that aging is not a game. Love, its everything.

You want a single factor: its caring love. It's going out of oneself for the sustenance, the nurturing of another person which ultimately nurtures yourself. 3 Sherwin Nuland, author of The Art of Aging Well doctor, inventor and driver of aPorsche, inspired several chapters. "He attributes a lot of what he is to two things, and they're related. One is curiosity, the other is the anticipation of the next interesting thing looking forward to something that will make tomorrow even more interesting than today," Nuland said.

"Michael De Bakey has this wonderful expression, to draw in one's horizons' to focus on what one knows is realistic, is rewarding, where one can make a contribution. Just narrow those horizons to realistic perspectives." Now happily remarried to a 59-year-old, Nuland, the father of four and grandfather of three, says he is working diligendy to balance his life with family, friends and mentors. He attributes his success in part to the nurturing love of several people. "Love, it's everything," he said. "You want a single factor: it's caring love.

It's going out of oneself for the sustenance, the nurturing of another person which ultimately nurtures yourself." He suggests readers recognize the opportunities before them. "The other way to look at this is, where do I want to be three years fromnow? Do I want to be vibrant and out of this slough of despondency I am in now? "Do I want to be strong enough to get on an airplane and visit Paris, if I can get all the money together to do it? Do I want to belong to a church group that serves an inner-city soup kitchen?" frail seniors or other adults with chronic illness and disability. Another session Friday will see Dr. Laurel Strain, PhD, of the Alberta Centre on Aging tackle the myths and realities of aging. The symposium will be held in Bernard Snell Hall at the University of Alberta Hospital.

Limited public seating for symposium sessions is available. Visit www.edmontonagingsympo-sium.com and click on speakers for more information and registration. Sessions geared to laymen are designated with green dots. NATIONAL POST, CANWEST NEWS SERVICE Sherwin Nuland, author of The Art of Aging Well, says people's attitudes toward aging largely determines how happy and fulfilled they'll be during their senior years. that age is a stage in life changes things." TheArtofAging Well finds a readership not only among Canada's aging population, but also among younger generations, he said.

"I think the single most important notion in anybody's life is this notion of caring love for at least several other people. "I think if I were advising young people, one of the important factors I would try to emphasize is (that your) career is not identity. When we're young, we focus so much on our career that we begin to think of it as this is what we are. "It's only later, when you get into your 40s and 50s, that you come to understand that you're much more than your career and that in itself broadens your whole viewpoint about aging." Nuland's encounters with 96-year-old Michael De Bakey, a world-renowned open to general public Callahan, International Program Director of the Bioethics think-tank the Hastings Center, is one of five bioethi-cists the American government has turned to help solve the ethical conundrum of how to distribute 60 million influenza vaccine doses to 100 million people at risk of contracting avian flu. A general session Friday morning will feature University of Alberta researcher Dr.

Janet Fast, PhD who will talk about the hidden costs and invisible contributions of family and friends who care for times in alarming detail (there is a chapter dealing with penis pumps) and suggests a simple antidote. Curiosity and caring love, it turns out, are elixirs of youth, he says. Add a commitment to exercise, and the declining health most are subject to in their later years is staved off. "Preconceptions (arrived at) by looking at previous generations are the worst enemy of reality in aging. We have this idea that this is what is supposed to happen to elderly people, so we let it happen." Nuland's interviews with a handful of people whose lives continued to be full of accomplishment well past the age of 75 afforded him insights into how to become a senior citizen happily.

"Age is only one more developmental stage of life," he said. "Just the attitude Many sessions at of A layman, Perrott says. A question-and-answer session Saturday morning between world-renowned American bioethicist Daniel Callahan and American scientist and author Greg Stock will address the moral imperative for using technology to extend the healthy human lifespan. Stockfeelstheenhancementofhuman longevity is a welcome and necessary development while his antagonist, Callahan feels we should not be so quick to extend lifespans. Experts will explore developments in prolonging human life journal Staff EDMONTON Top researchers and thinkers from around the globe will be in Edmonton next week to talk about technologies being developed to counteract aging.

The Edmonton Aging Symposium, March 30-31, is a first for Canada and possibly the world, says spokesperson Kevin Perrott. Most of the symposium sessions are geared for the general public, but about 30 per cent of the talks will focus on important laboratory breakthroughs that can be understood by the educated i tr -f iiiAAi.t,i4.