Thinking back on the past year on aging issues, many things come to mind. For Foster City, there was the formal beginning of the Foster City Village by electing a Board of Directors of which I have the privilege of serving on until the next meeting in January. We will elect our second Board of Directors/Officers. The forming of the Non-profit Foster City Village has been a long and time-consuming process. The rewards will be great for Foster City's aging population who need services that allow for their aging in place with dignity and grace. I will stay on in an active role as a member of the Advisory Board with many hard-working members-Elaine Pitts, Gil Guerin, Yana Rudakov, Ray Seewer, Edd McKibben, Maryellen Conner, Marlene Hopper and Kate Mayott. The FCV Founder, Patricia Player-Maxwell and Bonnie Silverman have been very active as well, and will continue. Other Foster City folks are pitching in as volunteers and we are so very grateful to all of them for their service and commitment, especially Jeff Brown, Audrey Guerin, Len Fein, and Jim Wambach. Diane has also been invaluable on the Membership Committee. Aging transportation services are expected to roll out in the next couple of months. Memberships are available now. The website is: www.fostercityvillage.com. We are seeking funding for help with the start-up and appreciate any input from anyone interested in supporting our aging population to remain safe at home.
In other matters, important discoveries were made in aging medicine. One such discovery was in being able to detect the Alzheimer's gene 20+ years in advance of getting the disease. According to ABC News, it is an important discovery for doctors to begin prescribing drugs earlier that may help stave off its progression, like Lipitor.The National Association of Professional Gerontologists has news and weblinks on other issues pertaining to aging on their website at: www.napgerontologists.org. The news has been so full of disasters and tragedies over the last year. The U.S. Congress has been so unbelievably insensitive having not settled before the holidays, the "Fiscal Cliff" with their "Fiscal Tiff" leaving us all to wonder over our Special Occasion Dinners. What the h_ _ _ !!! When I think of the San Francisco Giants game that my husband and I attended this past year and two separate families had kids behind us who had to go hungry because their parents couldn't afford to buy hot dogs at the game, it is sad. Their parents told them they would eat when they got home. That would have been around 10:00pm. We would have bought them some if we had the cash ourselves. America's favorite past time and no hot dogs for kids! It is shameful.We are all learning to adjust to having less. Senior citizens in many cases are relying on food sales and day-old pastry items to feed themselves. So we have all three generations hungry in the Bay Area, seemingly one of the wealthiest places to live. What the h_ _ _!! Let's hope that it is a lucky 2013!-Your Foster City Friend ;-)
