Changing Aging

So today there’s a headline I received from a University of Kansas study, and I don’t know about you, but I found it disturbing that we even have such a study . . .

Conducted by researchers at the University of Kansas, the study found that cognitively impaired people react badly when spoken to as if they were infants.  Researchers videotaped 20 people with moderate dementia to discover their reactions to demeaning dialogue.  Adults who were talked down to were twice as likely to resist care - by crying out, hitting, kicking, yelling or other methods - than those who were spoken to as adults.

Actor Robert Hanson (”Wagon Train”) is 84.

Neal Doughty of REO Speedwagon is 62.

Geddy Lee, singer in Rush, is 55.

Documentary maker Ken Burns is 55.

And Patti Scialfa with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band is 55.

Actually, Mick hit 65 yesterday, but we’re going to throw him in today’s birthday list.

Others celebrating today, include:

Keyboardist Rick Wright of Pink Floyd is 65.

Garfield cartoonist Jim Davis is 63.

Actress Linda Kelsey (Lou Grant) and Twin Cities-area resident is 62.

Singer Jonathon Edwards is 62.

And actress Sally Struthers is celebrating 60.

Dan Buettner should have gone to New Richmond, Wis.

Buettner has created a company called Blue Zones, which is selling the ”product” of longevity.  He’s traveled to a bunch of countries to learn “secrets of longevity” and keys to living longer.  The Blue Zones web site says they’ve developed a program to help you feel better, look younger, and avoid 70% of the diseases that will kill you before your time

We didn’t travel to Sardinia or Taiwan.  Instead we went across the river to Wisconsin and talked with one of Ecumen’s customers 106-year-old Marion Davidson.    What she told us echos some of what Buettner and other longevity researchers have said, but it also doesn’t:

Actress Estelle Getty, who died on Tuesday, and played the octogenarian mother on Golden Girls, would have been 85 today.

Bassist Verdine White of Earth, Wind and Fire is 57.

Supermodel Iman is 53.

Cartoonist Ray Billingsley (”Curtis”) is 51.

Guitarist Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth is 50.

Celebrating another year today:

Comedian Ruth Buzzi is 72.

Actor Mark Goddard (Lost in Space) is 72.

Comedian Gallagher is 62.

Actor Robert Hays (played Ted Striker in Airplane)

“Superwoman” Lynda Carter is 57.

Thank you to Changing Aging reader and interviewee Dr. Brent Ridge of Martha Stewart Living who shared with us a very moving, authentic, up-close photo essay done by one of his friends on caring with a father with Alzheimer’s.  View it here at www.dayswithmyfather.com.

Media always talk about women being caregivers - and statistics show that they do the bulk of family caregiving.  That’s going to have to change pronto for the Age Wave, especially with so many dual-career couples.  Men have to get with it.  Kudos to this son.

Actress Gloria Dehaven is 83.

Country singer Tony Joe White is 65.

Larry Manetti, who played Rick on Magnum P.I. is 61.

Singer David Essex is 61.

Guitarist Blair Thornton of Bachman-Turner Overdrive is 58.

And actor Woody Harrelson will soon be living fully after 50.  He turns 47 today.

Ecumen customer Hardy Rickbeil has set a lot of goals in his life and reached them.   He recently reached another one:  His 100th birthday.

Everyone knows Hardy in Worthington, Minn.  A community leader, he built several businesses there that employed many people in Worthington.  Today, as a resident of the Ecumen community of The Meadows of Worthington, Hardy continues his community building work.

A strong proponent of exercise, Hardy was honored with his own day on his birthday as Worthington Mayor Al Oberloh declared June 21st F. Hardy Rickbeil Day in Worthington.  Community residents also enjoyed an hour long radio interview, where he shared his insights on living fully.

Here are a some notable birthdays for today.  If you have a birthday, or want to celebrate someone’s birthday,  please add it in the comments section below.

Actor Orson Bean (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman) is 80.

Actress Louise Fletcher 74.

Game show host Alex Trebek is 68.

Singer George Clinton 67.

Singer Don Henley is 61.

Actor-comedian-director Albert Brooks is 61.

Actor William Dafoe is 53.