Grey Natter The Official Organ of Grey Power Wainuiomata Association Vol 14 No.10 April 2014

As I See It….. At this stage I am working using NZ summertime – by the time you read this we should all be on NZ standard time. Yes, autumn is here and let’s hope for a moderate to good winter.

If you are hoping to be a financial member of Grey Power it is time to think about paying your subs for the year 2014/5. The deadline is June 30th. Should you not be financial, for the year 2013/2014, you cannot vote at the AGM, also, if you have joined Grey Power Electricity as a Grey Power member, special electricity rates apply only to financial members.. So remember to renew for 2014/2015.

Our AGM is on May 28th and it is then that we decide where the future lies for Grey Power Wai-nuiomata for the following year. Nominations are needed to enable us to form a good, workable committee – many people shy at the word “committee”, in simple words, it is defined as “a group of people appointed or chosen to perform a function on behalf of a larger group”. It is a team with various skills and abilities working for a common purpose.

I have been perusing the range of classes available at Senior Net in Lower Hutt. They run classes on subjects varying from digital photography to iPhones and sessions range from $5 to $25, for anyone interested, it is well worth making enquiries (See Yellow pages).

Although only in the preliminary planning stage, it is hoped to hold a Grey Power Luncheon on June 11th. The venue – Wainui-omata Bowling Club, a renowned outside caterer will be hired, so, mark this date on your calendar. The cost to members could be very attractive at $15 per head - more details as they are finalised, in coming events!.

This morning Nola Garrod and myself met our local MP. Our purpose was to ensure that the work being carried around out in the various areas on the retirement village project was not going to be put to one side and its’ importance to the older people of Wainuiomata overlooked. Trevor (Mallard) had researched this matter and the results matched those I had obtained recently from Hutt City Council. Currently, negotiations are underway between Masonic Villages Trust, the developer (Hughes Construc-tion) and Hutt Valley District Health Board with an expected outcome within four weeks. We need to keep this project very much alive and monitor whatever action occurs !

We have received an email from the Health National advisory Group of Grey Power asking that any member having difficulties with “elective surgery” appointments - in relation to excessive waiting time, being moved off the waiting list or being severely disadvantaged by not having an operation, - please advise them. Details of the person to be contacted are listed on a form which may be obtained from our Acting Secretary (Edna). This information is needed in order that it be used to back up a Grey Power advocacy approach to Parliament.

When our organisation started in 1986 it was as the “Auckland Superannuation Association” and was intended to take care of Superannuation for those 65 years +. The age lower limit was always assumed to be 50 – but this is not a barrier, we welcome members of all ages that can contribute to the association, providing they pay their ‘subs’ and adhere to our rules. Remember, the more members we have, the more effective our organisation will be.

Ken Salmon – President

Proudly Sponsored by the Hutt Mana Charitable Trust

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” ― Winston Churchill

2

SuperGold Card holders Visiting Australia

Australia's Seniors Card programme is run by each state/territory independently. This means that SuperGold Card hold-ers can find out where they can use their card, by going to the website of the Australian state or territory they will be visiting. The most up to date information will be held on the relevant Seniors Card website.

Please note:

Many Australian businesses are in the process of signing up, but may not have 'officially' done so yet. It may be worth asking businesses that are displaying the Seniors Card logo (seen on this page) if they also accept the SuperGold Card.

This arrangement does not include state or nationally funded programmes (such as government funded transport concessions in Australia).

Seniors Card websites in Australia

Victoria Participating businesses are indicated with an International Globe icon within the Retail and Services Directory 2011-2013. Around 85% of businesses offer discounts to Super-Gold Card holders.

Go to Victoria's Seniors Card website: http://tinyurl.com/lwut8zz

New South Wales From 1 Jan 2013 all participating businesses in the NSW Seniors Card programme will also accept SuperGold Cards.

Go to NSW's Seniors Card website: http://tinyurl.com/kgq26f7

Queensland New Zealand SuperGold Card holders travelling to Queens-land can search their online discount directory to find busi-nesses offering discounts to visiting overseas cardholders.

Participating businesses are indicated with an International Globe icon.

Go to Queensland's Seniors Card website: http://tinyurl.com/khj4vdk

South Australia Participating businesses are indicated with an International Globe icon within The 2011 Your Lifestyle Guide.

Go to South Australia's Seniors Card website: http://tinyurl.com/n4k924u

Western Australia Participating businesses are indicated with an Overseas Globe icon within the WA Seniors Card Discount Directory.

Go to Western Australia's Seniors Card website: http://tinyurl.com/mbdn9b3 Continued in Next Column:

Continued: Tasmania Participating businesses are indicated with a World Globe icon within the Seniors Card Directory. Go to Tasmania's Seniors Card website: http://tinyurl.com/mbgbqw6 Northern Territory Participating businesses are indicated with a World Globe icon within their Directories.

Go to Northern Territory's Seniors Card website: http://tinyurl.com/n8cm29g ACT Go to the ACT Seniors Card website: http://tinyurl.com/n593d7w

Going on Holiday in New Zealand? Go to the Super Gold Directory and build your own ’Discount Directory for the region you are going too, which you can then download and print. It really is quite easy, go too: http://tinyurl.com/mtathpo

Student Who Scored 0% in an Exam.

Q1. In which battle did Napoleon die? * his last battle.

Q2. Where was the Declaration of Independence signed?

*at the bottom of the page.

Q3. The River Ravi flows in which state? * liquid.

Q4. What is the main reason for divorce? *marriage.

Q5. What is the main reason for failure? *exams.

Q6. What can you never eat for breakfast? *lunch and dinner.

Q7. What looks like half an apple? *the other half.

Q8. If you throw a red stone into the blue sea, what will it become? *it will become wet.

Q9. How can a man go eight days without sleeping? *no problem, he sleeps at night.

Q10. How can you lift an elephant with one hand? *you won’t find an elephant with only one hand.

Q11. If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges in the other hand, what would you have? *very large hands.

Q12. If it took eight men four hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men to build it? *no time at all, the wall is already built.

Q13. How can you drop a raw egg on to a concrete floor without cracking it? *any way you want, concrete floors are very hard to crack.

3

Amusing..

A man and a woman were having a quiet, romantic dinner in a fine restaurant.

They were gazing lovingly at each other and holding hands.

The waitress, taking another order at a table a few steps away, suddenly noticed the woman slowly sliding down her chair and under the table, but the man stared straight ahead.

The waitress watched as the woman slid all the way down her chair and out of sight under the tablecloth.

Still, the man stared straight ahead.

The waitress, thinking this behaviour a bit risqué and worried that it might offend other diners, went over to the table and tact-fully said to the man, "Pardon me, sir, but I think your wife just slid under the table."

The man calmly looked up at her and said, "No, she didn't. She just walked in..

Take Two..

Two elderly gentlemen from a retirement centre were sitting on a bench under a tree when one turns to the other and says: 'Slim, I'm 83 years old now and I'm just full of aches and pains. I know you're about my age. How do you feel?' Slim says, 'I feel just like a new-born baby.' 'Really!? Like a new-born baby!? ' 'Yep. No hair, no teeth, and I think I just wet my pants.'

Crashes Take Their Toll on More Frail Older Drivers

The New Zealand Transport Agency says more older drivers are dying on roads because they are more frail and cannot survive crashes that younger bodies can. This means they are over represented in crash statistics…

NZTA southern regional director Jim Harland said: "For a similar mistake by a younger person, an older person due to their frailty will have a more serious injury or even die. This is why they show up more in injury and driver fatality statis-tics. It is not to do with their skill level..."

New Zealand's "ageing population" meant there was a likeli-hood of more fatalities among the elderly.

Harland said road design in post-earthquake Canterbury needed to to be more accommodating for the elderly. "We need good design to benefit our majority population."

Age Concern chief executive Simon Templeton said that by 2035, 24 per cent of the population would be over 65, and Canterbury had the highest predicted growth rate of over 85s,"

"We do know as the brain ages the ability to process a multi-ple amount of things decreases, which is where intersections can be tricky. We need to address this to prevent fatalities."

That could include refresher courses for drivers on changes to the road rules, he said.

The Press, Christchurch

4

Butter is Back

From the New York Times by Mark Bittman

Julia Child, goddess of fat, is beaming somewhere. Butter is back, and when you’re looking for a few chunks of pork for a stew, you can resume searching for the best pieces — the ones with the most fat. Eventually, your friends will stop glar-ing at you as if you’re trying to kill them.

That the worm is turning became increasingly evident a cou-ple of weeks ago, when a meta-analysis published in the jour-nal Annals of Internal Medicine found that there’s just no evidence to support the notion that saturated fat increases the risk of heart disease. (In fact, there’s some evidence that a lack of saturated fat may be damaging.) The researchers looked at 72 different studies and, as usual, said more work — including more clinical studies — is needed. For sure. But the days of skinless chicken breasts and tubs of I Can’t Be-lieve It’s Not Butter may finally be drawing to a close.

The tip of this iceberg has been visible for years, and we’re finally beginning to see the base. Of course, no study is per-fect and few are definitive. But the real villains in our diet — sugar and ultra-processed foods — are becoming increasingly apparent. You can go back to eating butter, if you haven’t already.

This doesn’t mean you abandon fruit for beef and cheese; you just abandon fake food for real food, and in that category of real food you can include good meat and dairy. I would argue, however, that you might not include most industrially pro-duced animal products; stand by.

Since the 1970s almost everyone in this country has been subjected to a barrage of propaganda about saturated fat. It was bad for you; it would kill you. Never mind that much of the nonsaturated fat was in the form of trans fats, now demon-strated to be harmful. Never mind that many polyunsaturated fats are chemically extracted oils that may also, in the long run, be shown to be problematic.

Never mind, too, that the industry’s idea of “low fat” became the emblematic SnackWell’s and other highly processed “low-fat” carbs (a substitution that is probably the single most important factor in our overweight/obesity problem), as well as reduced fat and even fat-free dairy, on which it made bil-lions of dollars. (How you could produce fat-free “sour cream” is something worth contemplating.)

Continued in Next Column:

Continued:

But let’s not cry over the chicharrones or even nicely buttered toast we passed up. And let’s not think about the literally mil-lions of people who are repelled by fat, not because it doesn’t taste good (any chef will tell you that “fat is flavour”) but because they have been brainwashed.

Rather, let’s try once again to pause and think for a moment about how it makes sense for us to eat, and in whose interest it is for us to eat hyper processed junk. The most efficient sum-mary might be to say “eat real food” and “avoid anything that didn’t exist 100 years ago.”

You might consider a dried apricot (one ingredient) versus a Fruit Roll-Up (13 ingredients, numbers 2, 3 and 4 of which are sugar or forms of added sugar). Or you might reflect that real yogurt has two or three ingredients (milk plus bacteria, with some jam or honey if you like) and that the number in Breyers YoCrunch Cookies n’ Cream Yogurt is unknowable (there are a few instances of “and/or”) but certainly at least 18.

Many things have gone awry with the way we produce food. And it isn’t just the existence of junk food but the transfor-mation of ingredients we could once take for granted or thought of as “healthy.” Indeed, meat, dairy, wheat and corn have become foods that frequently contain antibiotics and largely untested chemicals, or are produced using hybrids or methods that have increased yield but may have produced unwanted results.

Although the whole “avoid saturated fat” thing came about largely because regulators were too timid to recommend that we “eat less meat,” meat in itself isn’t “bad”; it’s about quan-tity and quality. So at this juncture it would be natural for a person who does not read volumes of material about agricul-ture, diet and health to ask, “If saturated fat isn’t bad for me, why should I eat less meat?”

The best current answer to that: It’s possible to eat as much meat as we do only if it’s grown in ways that are damaging. They’re damaging to our health and the environment (not to mention the tortured animals) for a variety of reasons, includ-ing rampant antibiotic use; the devotion of more than a third of our global cropland to feeding animals; and the resulting degradation of the environment from that crop and its unim-aginable overuse of chemicals, soil and water.

Even if large quantities of industrially produced animal prod-ucts were safe to eat, the environmental costs are demonstra-ble and huge. And so the argument “eat less meat but eat bet-ter meat” makes sense from every perspective. If you raise fewer animals, you can treat them more humanely and reduce their environmental impact. And we can enjoy the better but-ter, too.

5

Ryman Sees Retirement Village Boom Coming

Retirement village developer and operator Ryman Healthcare is searching for a second Melbourne village development site and ramping up New Zealand work.

The NZX-listed company says it has expanded its New Zea-land land bank and will lift its build rate in this country.

Ryman has plans for eight new retirement villages in New Zealand, after recent land acquisitions.

Managing director Simon Challies said five of the eight new villages would be in the Auckland region.

"We are experiencing great demand for our existing villages and we know we're about to hit a 30-year growth period as the population ages," Challies said in a statement.

"Auckland is the biggest market in New Zealand and it's growing strongly."

The target was to lift the current New Zealand build rate to 850 units and beds a year by 2017 to meet increasing de-mand. The increase meant Ryman would be building at al-most double the rate it was five years ago, he said.

Analysts have attributed some of Ryman's share-price gains to its strong growth rate. In 2012 the company announced it had lifted its build rate to 700 retirement units and aged-care beds a year. It lifted the rate from 550 a year previously.

Ryman shares were trading 4 cents weaker at $8.34 today.

"Our team has been busy acquiring sites so we're in a good position to meet the burgeoning need for retirement living and aged-care options," Challies said.

"We've got eight development sites in the New Zealand land bank and they're all great locations. We're delighted to be in a position to lift our New Zealand build rate at a time when demand is starting to really take off.

"At this increased build rate we've got four years of develop-ment work in the pipeline in New Zealand."

By the end of this year Ryman would have invested over $100 million on these new sites in New Zealand as it geared up to meet the growing need. Ryman's land bank would pro-vide homes and specialist care for more than 4000 elderly New Zealanders.

Challies said the company's next priority was securing a sec-ond site in Melbourne.

The locations of the new sites would be revealed for prospec-tive residents as soon as Ryman was in a position to do so, Challies added.

The Southlamd Times

Superannuation payments Maximum payment rates

New Zealand Superannuation payments are made fortnightly into your bank account, on a Tuesday. What you are paid depends on your personal circumstances. Here are some of the more common rates of payment:

NZ Superannuation and Veteran's Pension rates at 1 April 2014

Net weekly rate Net fortnightly rate (both after tax at ‘M’ code) Pension type

Single, living alone $366.94 $733.88

Single, sharing $338.71 $677.42

Married, civil union or de facto couple, one qualifies $282.26 $564.52

Married, civil union or de facto couple, both qualify (each) $282.26 $564.52

Married, civil union, or de facto couple, both qualify (total) $564.52 $1129.04

Married, civil union, or de facto couple, only one partner qualifies and the other partner is “included” in payments (total) $536.54 $1073.08

Media Release from Minister Bennett NZ Superannuitants will receive a 2.66% increase so that the married rate continues to equal 66% of the average net wage. The Annual General Adjustments include:

• rates and thresholds for main benefits, Student Allowanc-es, Student Loan Living Costs and the Foster Care Allow-ance

• rates and thresholds for some supplementary assistance

• thresholds for the Community Services Card New Zea-land Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension.

• For more information, see: http://tinyurl.com/lfpzomv

We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.

George Bernard Shaw.

Questions that Haunt Me: Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?

Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

6

Emergency Rooms are No Place

for the Elderly

Dr. Pauline Chen on Medical Care

The elderly man lived alone in an apartment complex not far from the hospital. A younger neighbor, who’d watched him hobble down the building’s stairwell for nearly a week, insist-ed on taking him to the emergency room. Doctors there imme-diately diagnosed an infection in his painful toe and pre-scribed antibiotics for him to take at home.

But they also advised the man to be sure to take his diabetes medicine, since the infection could elevate his blood sugar to dangerous levels. And as the surgical consultant, I urged him to keep his foot up, check the toe once a day and come to our vascular surgery clinic in a week to make sure the infection was clearing up. He needed close follow-up to prevent serious complications, even the loss of his foot.

“Of course, if things get worse before the week’s up,” I said, raising my voice to be heard over the clatter beyond the make-shift curtain walls of the E.R. examining room, “come back here right away.”

Under the glaring fluorescent lights, there was no mistaking the blank look that passed over the man’s face. He was over-whelmed.

But so was the emergency room.

None of the staff members had been trained in co-ordinating the complex outpatient care this elderly patient needed. None knew of a way for the emergency department to check on him a day or so after discharge to ensure his care was proceeding as planned. And when a social worker from another depart-ment agreed to pitch in with outpatient care, the emergency room doctors and nurses became alarmed rather than relieved, because arranging such follow-up could take several hours. With patients spilling out of the waiting room and into the hallways, they were under pressure to either admit or dis-charge patients as quickly as possible.

An older nurse finally pulled me aside. “Just admit him,” she whispered. “It’ll cost more, but it’s the only way you’ll be sure he’s getting the right care.”

I remembered the nurse’s advice, and the patient I ended up admitting, when I came upon a recent paper and report on the care of elderly patients in American emergency rooms.

The number of older people seeking health care is expected to increase significantly over the next 40 years, doubling in the case of those older than 65, potentially tripling among those over 85. In a health care system already critically short of primary care providers and geriatrics specialists, many of these older patients will likely end up in emergency rooms.

Continued in Next Column:

Continued:

But given longstanding trends in American medicine, it’s hard to imagine a health care setting more ill suited for the elderly than today’s emergency rooms.

Over the last five decades, quality emergency care has become synonymous with speed. Survival rates for patients in the throes of a stroke, heart attack or traumatic injury depend on the number of minutes needed to triage, diagnose and treat. Even the physical environment where emergency care takes place has become a paragon of medical efficiency — large echoing spaces that can be divided at a moment’s notice with panels of curtains, slick linoleum floors that can be mopped up in minutes and bright fluorescent lights.

More recently, as overcrowding has become a significant problem, the drive for efficiency has become more pro-nounced, with doctors and nurses having to work as quickly as possible simply to see all the patients.

But when it comes to elderly patients, it is nearly impossible to work quickly. Many are plagued by multiple chronic diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, take nu-merous prescription drugs that can cross-react in potentially dangerous ways and suffer from ills like dementia that can make the answer to even the simplest of questions – What brought you to the emergency room today? – difficult to un-derstand.

For several years now, a small but dedicated group of emer-gency medicine and geriatrics specialists has been working to improve this situation. And over the last three months, first in an article published in the national health policy journal Health Affairs, then in an impressive set of evidence-based guidelines supported by several national professional medical and nursing organizations, they have issued a call to arms to the rest of the medical profession.

To meet the needs of the rapidly growing elderly population, these specialists assert, medical centers must “geriatricize” their emergency departments.

And they offer a plethora of practical advice for doing so. Among their suggestions: Hire providers trained in caring for older patients. Routinely administer quick but effective screen-ing tests for dementia and other cognitive impairments. Install non-slip flooring and more sound-absorbing materials to de-crease the risk of falls and dampen noise levels. And train all staff members to be more attuned to social factors that can affect care for the elderly, like the necessity of arranging for transportation to get to follow-up medical visits, the need for walkers, canes and other medical equipment to get around the home and for extra help to get prescriptions filled and taken correctly.

Similar changes have already been put in place to improve pediatric, trauma and cardiac emergency care. But a larger stumbling block remains: getting a greater proportion of hospi-tal administrators, health care providers and the public at large to become interested in care for the elderly.

Continued on Next Page:

7

Wellington District recorded crime decreases by 9.9% in 2013 The annual recorded crime statistics released today shows 9.9% less crime recorded in 2013, which builds on a 9% de-crease from the year before.

34,806 offences were recorded across the Wellington Police District which covers Wellington City, the Hutt Valley, Pori-rua and the Kapiti Coast and the Wairarapa.

Across the Wellington District there were 3,807 fewer offenc-es. This year, the Kapiti-Mana Area saw the most significant reduction of 13.4% followed by the Hutt Valley (10.3%), Wairarapa (9.2%) and Wellington City (7.7%).

Wellington District Commander, Superintendent Sam Hoyle, says "It is heartening to see these year-on-year reductions which indicate to me that the crime prevention work we are undertaking across multiple fronts with our communities and partners is working."

"We all know that crime isn't random and through targeted deployment of officers and increasing our foot patrols we can be more visible, deter crime, and ensure we understand com-munity problems and concerns."

"I know all our staff are committed to ensuring that people feel safe in their community by stopping crime before it happens and providing the best possible service to our victims."

"Particularly pleasing to see is offences such as serious as-saults resulting in injury and theft from vehicles almost halv-ing from a peaks in 2006/2007 which, while we would like that number to be zero, it shows our proactive approach in areas such as CBD policing is resulting in real gains."

"We're working even smarter to target repeat offenders and locations so we can prevent people from becoming a victim of a needless crime. Targeting of offences such as burglary means we've been able to arrest several high-profile offenders and link them to multiple locations".

"It is now easier to report crime than ever before through addi-tion of the 24 hour a day, seven day a week Crime Reporting Line for historic crime. Information from the public remains our best asset to detect offenders, establish trends and get ahead of crime.

Remember the number to call is: 439-0500

Continued:

“Older adults aren’t the kind of patients people gravitate to-ward,” said Dr. Ula Hwang, lead author of the paper in Health Affairs, a member of the task force that compiled the guide-lines and an associate professor of emergency medicine and geriatrics and palliative care at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “There’s a reason you don’t see the frail, cog-nitively and functionally impaired older patient on television medical shows.”

Nonetheless, Dr. Hwang and her colleagues remain optimistic. About 50 medical centers have incorporated such changes into their emergency departments, a notable improvement from a decade ago, when none existed. And by emphasizing close attention to the individual’s experience, many of these rede-signed departments are not only improving care but also rede-fining what is possible for doctors and patients, even in one of the most critical of care settings.

“We can really become partners in improving care, instead of just putting a Band-Aid on the problem,” Dr. Hwang said. “We can give our elderly patients, our parents and our grand

.Rules: “For better digestion I drink beer, in the case of appetite loss I drink white wine, in the case of low blood pressure I drink red wine, in the case of high blood pressure I drink scotch, and when I have a cold I drink schnapps.”

“When do you drink water?”

“I’ve never been that sick!”

- - - and as someone recently said to me:

"Don't worry about old age--it doesn't last that long."

From the Editors Desk:

As some of you will know, I am as fit as a fiddle but, my lungs are, well busted! I suffer from the smokers disease, COPD, for those who may be wondering, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease., not nice at all. I will be attending Hutt Hospital’s Pulmonary Department in late April for another lung function test, the outcome is not going to be that great for me. The early prognosis is I will have to go onto Oxygen Therapy. Now I am aware I will not be the only one in the valley with either COPD or needing oxygen therapy, but I am aware it will be quite restrictive and I have to take that into consideration going forward.

The outcome will mean it will not be as easy for me to attend meetings, both general and committee. I am in the process of obtaining a Portable Oxygen Condenser (POC) which will give me more mobility, but until I actually get one and try it out, I have no real idea of a) how easy it will be to use and b), how noisy it will be and therefore an inconvenience/annoyance to other people.

The point I am coming to, eventually! Is, I will still be quite happy to edit the newsletter, if indeed that is what members want, but will do so from the seclusion of my desk. Now this means I will miss out on discussions at committee, so it will be incumbent on the new committee to keep me informed, so I can, to the best of my ability, pass on the correct information to you.

If there is anyone else that feels they could take the editor’s role on, then I am more than happy to hand over the reins and will do my very best to assist as much as I can. I do not con-sider myself to be any more than a rank amateur at this desk-top publishing malarkey, so I am sure there are more able bod-ied people out there than me. Feel free to stand up and be counted if that is your wish.

In the meantime, I look forward to our mid winter dinner with some relish. Take care out there...

8

5 Regrets of the Dying: Think About These. #5 is a Real

Epiphany. After many years of feeling unfulfilled at her job, Bronnie Ware set out to find something that resonated with her soul. She ended up in palliative care where she spent many years helping those who were dying. Some time later, she com-piled a list of the 5 most common regrets expressed by the people she cared for.

The list she collected gained huge popularity, and we are sharing it with you here today because it’s something all of us should keep in mind. Even though it can be hard to think about, this stuff is really important for your happiness right here and now!

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

“This was the most common regret of all. When people real-ise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.”

2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.

“This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companion-ship. Women also spoke of this regret, but as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.”

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

“Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.”

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

“Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friend-ships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.”

Continued in Next Column:

Continued:

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

”This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity over-flowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content, when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.”

Credit: www.huffingtonpost.com

This is really truthful and beautiful advice, even though it's a bit hard to think about. Take it from the people that have been there, and don't make the same mistake! Share these 5 points, as everyone could use a reminder from time to time.

Hogewey “Dementia Village” The Future of Dementia Care?

Hogewey, located in the Netherlands, is the only care facility of its kind in the world and is home to over 150 people with severe dementia. Started by 2 nurses who feared having to put their own parents in a traditional nursing home, ‘Dementia Village’ is a place where residents live a seemingly normal life, but are actually being watched by caregivers at all times. There are al-most twice as many caregivers as residents in the village and they staff everything from the grocery store to the hair salon.

There is only one way out of the alternate reality of Dementia Village – a door that is locked and under 24 hr surveillance – an important safety measure for wandering residents. If a resident of Hogewey approaches the door a caretaker will suggest that this door is locked and perhaps they could look for a different door.

Residents are free to roam around, visiting shops, getting their hair done or being active in one of the 25 clubs available at Hogewey. As well as the psychological benefits this provides, staying active also improves general physical health. The resi-dents here take fewer medications, eat better and live long-er. And although joy is a hard thing to measure, the staff at Hogewey think their residents are more content on a day to day to basis.

Germany and Switzerland have been studying the Hogewey life and might be next to create their own dementia care villag-es. Can something like this work in the United States? Would you prefer to send your loved ones to a Dementia Village?

Dr. Sanjay Gupta covered this story on CNN in 2013. Watch the CNN exclusive video of Hogeway’s Dementia Village here: http://tinyurl.com/lqwmvog

9

Questions That Haunt Me!

How important does a person have to be before they are con-sidered assassinated instead of just murdered?

Once you're in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity?

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?

Why is it that people say they 'slept like a baby' when babies wake up like every two hours?

Why are you IN a movie, but you're ON TV?

Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?

Why do doctors leave the room while you change? They're going to see you naked anyway...

Why is 'bra' singular and 'panties' plural?

Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?

If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about him?

Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both dogs!

If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?

Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?

Why did you just try singing the two songs above?

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

Why, Why, Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting dead?

Why do banks charge a fee on 'insufficient funds' when they know there is not enough money?

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. — Mark Twain

“Don't waste your time with explanations: people only hear what they want to hear.” ― Paulo Coelho

A Reminder: House Insurance Is Changing

Changes to the home insurance underwritten by IAG will af-fect many New Zealand Homeowners if you own a home or are thinking of buying one it is important to understand how these changes could affect the way your home will ne insured.

In future, you, not your insurer, will be responsible for work-ing out how much to insure your home for. It may not be easy to change to the new system.

Before April 2013, you named a ‘sum insured’ and that was what your insurer would pay to rebuild your house in the event of a disaster. This is not how it works anymore. From now on it will be the home owners job to estimate how much it will cost to rebuild their home. You choose a figure then tell your insurer the maximum sum needed should the house be destroyed

How do you estimate the cost of rebuilding your home.

Your first port of call should be the web site: www.need2know.org.nz

''There 1s a calculator on this site. It is all set up with ques-tions which you answer about your home, and the calculator comes up with the likely cost of replacement, but if you get it wrong, you are the loser. Plus, you cannot sue them if the sum is too low. This is what you’ll get and you will just have to build a smaller home than the one you had, or pay the dif-ference yourself.

For simple~ unmodified homes the calculators are fairly accu-rate.

An alternative is to seek and pay for a professional insurance valuation to help you decide. You can't rely on your Govern-ment valuation either, remember to take into account the in-creasing value of your home each year.

If you insure your home for too much the insurers will not now pay you that sum if they deem the house not worth that at the time it was destroyed. It is money for jam for the insurers. If you under estimate you will have to build more moderately.

♦ Assured Value is not coming back

♦ If the web calculator is not satisfactory, get an insur-ance valuer ti do it for you

♦ It is your responsibility to get it right

The next few year will be the most difficult to negotiate. More helpful tools be deployed in the near future. The insurance market, which will never be the same as it was, will settle down to some extent. Examples of insurance pay-outs will, in time, give us a better picture of how the new rules are working and again, some better plans will develop.

The only advice we have at this point in time is to try an in-surance broker who will offer a range of products for you to choose from. Make sure when you re-insure that you fully understand what you have been insured for and how much, whatever insurance company you go for, they owe you that much.

10

I Did Not Know This

Water or Coke? We all know that water is important but I’ve never seen it written like this before.

Water 1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. 2. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger. 3. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one’s metabolism as much as 30%. 4. One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University of Washington study. 5. Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue. 6. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers. 7. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page. 8. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.

Now for the properties of Coke 1. In many states (in the USA) the highway patrol carries two gallons of Coke in the truck to remove blood from the high-way after a car accident. 2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of coke and it will be gone in two days. 3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl and let the “real thing” sit for one hour, then flush clean. The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous China. 4. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a rumpled-up piece of aluminium foil dipped in Coca-Cola. 5. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion. 6. To loosen a rusted bolt: Applying a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes. 7. To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of coke into a load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run through a regu-lar cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains. It will also clean road haze from your windshield.

Important Information 1. The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its pH is 2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about 4 days. Phosphoric acid also leaches calcium from bones and is a major contributor to the rising increase in osteoporosis. 2. To carry Coca-Cola syrup (the concentrate) the commercial truck must use the Hazardous material place cards reserved for Highly corrosive materials. 3. The distributors of coke have been using it to clean the en-gines of their trucks for about 20 years! At the animal shelter, coke is used to remove calcium deposits from the water pans about ever 6 months.

Now the question is, would you like a glass of water or coke?

Helicopter Ride. Stewart and his wife Barbara go to the country fair, every year and every year Stewart would say, “Barbara, I would like a ride in that helicopter”. Every year Barbara would reply, “I know, Stewart, but that helicopter ride is a hundred dollars and a hundred dollars is a hundred dollars”.

One particular year, when they went to the country fair, Stew-art said, “Barbara, I’m 75 years old and if I don’t ride in that helicopter this year, I might never get another chance”. Bar-bara gave her usual reply, “Stewart, that helicopter ride is a hundred dollars and a hundred dollars is a hundred dollars”.

The pilot overheard the couple and said, “Folks, I’ll make you deal, I’ll take the pair of you for a ride and if you can stay quiet for the entire ride, I won’t charge you a cent, but say one word and it will be one hundred dollars”. Barbara and Stewart agreed and up they went.

The pilot did all sorts of fancy manoeuvres and not a word was heard. He did his daredevil tricks over and over again, but still not a word….

When they landed the pilot turned to Stewart and said “By golly, I did everything I could to make you yell out, but you didn’t. I’m impressed”.

Stewart replied, “Well, to tell you the truth, I almost said something when Barbara fell out, but you know, one hundred dollars is one hundred dollars!”

Grey Power Meetings Held on the 4th Wednesday of each month at 1:30 pm.

Venue: Life City Church

Corner of Wainuiomata Road and Parkway

Wednesday April 23rd. Graham Dyer has put in an apology, but offers his attendance for a later date. No new speaker arranged at this moment

Friday 15th May, 10 am—Noon. Grey Power Lower Hutt meeting The speaker is, The Rt Hon Winston Peters, MP. WOA Grey Power members welcome. Wednesday May 28th

Annual General Meeting Speaker: Hamish Campbell

Geologist and a palaeontologist A talk about the geological origins of New Zealand.

Nothing planned after this date, yet,

A job for the new committee, well except that dinner, see you there:)

Wednesday 11th. June Mid Winter Dinner Probable Venue: Wainuiomata Bowling Club. Cost to Members, just $15.00 Each This is quite heavily subsidised, so don’t miss out...

11

The Speaker for our April Meeting

Derek Lightbourne

Derek took us on a wonderful journey through South America and Easter Island and we really did see the highs and lows of that continent.

“If you think you are beaten, you are; If you think you dare not, you don't.

If you'd like to win, but think you can't It's almost a cinch you won't.

If you think you'll lose, you've lost, For out in the world we find

Success being with a fellow's will; It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you're outclassed, you are:

You've got to think high to rise. You've got to be sure of yourself before

You can ever win a prize. Life's battles don't always go To the stronger or faster man,

But soon or late the man who wins Is the one who thinks he can.” ― Walter D. Wintle

W: 04 564 0004 H: 04 970 6595 M: 027 307 2999 E: nicky.cooper@harcourts.co.nz

Nicky Cooper LICENSED SALESPERSON REAA 2008

32 Queen Street Wainuiomata Lower Hutt, 5014

Call Me For a Free Market Appraisal

Fundraising Opportunity List and sell your house through Nicky Cooper at Harcourts and Nicky will donate $200* to your nominat-ed church, school, club or charity, which we hope will be Grey Power Wainuiomata of course, but it is your choice. (* Terms & Conditions apply)

Amusing:

Why do people keep running over a thread a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?

12

Clive’s Chemist Shop Prescriptions

Photos & Cameras Gifts & Perfumes

Queen street, Wainuiomata. Telephone 564 8618

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the contributors of the articles and not necessarily those of Grey Power Wainuiomata Association Incorporated. The information in the publication is given in good faith and has been derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. Neither Grey Power Wainuiomata Association Incorporated nor any person involved in the preparation of this publication accept any form of liability whatsoever for the contents, including advertisements, editorial, opinions, advice or information, nor for any consequences from its use.

ForExtraordinaryPrinting 10RaroaRoad Lower Hutt MaintelephoneNo:(04) 570-0355 Main Fax No: (04) 570-1299 POBox31220 Lower Hutt 5040

Officers and Committee Members of Grey Power Wainuiomata Association

Inc.

President: Ken Salmon 98 Hair Street. Ph: 934 6473 Email: k_salmon@paradise.net.nz

Vice President: Vacant

Membership Secretary: Ian Swift 64 Konini Street. Ph: 564 5993 Email: ivswift@clear.net.nz

Secretary: Vacant Treasurer: Jane Chamberlain Ph: 971 9189 Email: horatio@paradise.net.nz

Welfare Officers: Jim & Patsy Manu 39 Poole Crescent. Ph: 564 7366

Advertising & P.H.O. Rep: Tony Watling 24 Roberts Street. PH: 564 5587 Email: tony@watling .co.nz.

PHO Representative: Ada George ada.george@paradise.net.nz

Archivist/Historian: Ross Cunningham 10 Maire Street. Ph: 564 7216

Harry Martin, QSM, JP. 35 Peel Place. Ph 972 8221 e/mail, oribi@paradise.net.nz

Errol Baird 102 Wainuiomata Road. Ph: 564 4183

Marion Wilkinson 5 Kim Street

Jean Salmon 98 Hair Street. Ph: 934 6473

Newsletter Editor; Derrick Halford 15 McGowan Road. Ph: 564 1144 Email: derrick.halford@gmail.com

There are a further four vacancies on the committee