 Welcome to this episode of Living Out Loud. I'm Susan Karp, the executive director of the Arlington Council on Aging. We've got quite the lineup today. We're gonna recap the 5K race, talk a little bit about town day, the flu and you, and then finish up with talking about some real estate tax relief programs that are open for enrollment right now. Don't go too far, I've got a special guest. See you soon. Welcome back. As I said, I have a special guest. I'd like to take a moment and introduce you to Joanne Sliny. Joanne is our new council on aging nurse. Welcome, Joanne. Thank you, Susan. And before we start, I'd like to share with you. We had a viewer last week that sent us a picture of what she saw on her morning walk. So let's take a look at that. I'd like to be there right now. So Joanne, let me ask you, what do you take a walk in the morning? Yes, I generally like to. I take my dog out before I go to work. Yeah. And I like to go here in town to Monotony Rocks Park a lot. All right, so when you're stepping out your front door without revealing where you live, what are some of the things that you immediately see? Well, first you notice the weather, what the sky looks like, whether it's gonna be a good day or bad day, just depending on the weather, what neighbors are already up and out and what's happening already in town. So what time of day do you put your foot out the door? About 6.30 a.m. 6.30 a.m., so I'm thinking based on my walk, you've got some light. I stuck my foot out the door this morning and it felt like it was midnight, so I really wanted to go back inside, but I persevered and still did my walk. Well, very good. Good for you. So I hope all of our viewers have enjoyed what Swan has provided for us in her view. We still encourage you to either send your thoughts along about what you do first thing in the morning or if you've got a special picture that you'd like to share, please forward that on to the information right here on the screen. So we have to switch a little bit and before I have you start sharing with us what you know about the flu, I'd like to give some recaps about the 5K race. The last time that we met, we talked about the 5K race, which was on September 8th, which is just this past Sunday. The first thing that I saw coming into Arlington was no traffic, which is always unusual because I'm normally coming into town by about 7.30 quarter-eight during a weekday, not a weekend. I entered into town hall, we pulled those tables out, set it up for registration. The pictures that you see right now are just snippets from the race. As you can tell, it was an absolutely beautiful day. Best day for runners is a cool start. Our youngest runners, we had two five-year-olds, which I thought was awesome. And then our oldest runner is 90 years old. It was a pretty good day with all kinds of things. We have fabulous sponsors and I'd like to share that. You probably see it up on your screen right now, but I'm gonna read it. We had Morarity, Zipwall, Home Instead, Senior Care, Watertown Savings Bank, Salter Health Care, Brightview Senior Living, Wanna Maker Hardware, Leader Bank, Visiting Nurse and Community Health, Community Care. We had Sweeney and O'Connell Real Estate Company, Keef Funeral Home, Wilson Farm and Whole Foods. I just can't tell you how grateful that we are from the sponsors, the COA staff that basically stopped their work and pulled together and brought this forward into a very fine event for the runners, the volunteers that helped. And certainly it was a fabulous day. Mother Nature played nicely that day, where she wasn't so nice the day before. So the picture that you see behind me also is Richard. So Richard Smith is our 90-year-old that finished the race in about 58 minutes. So when you see Richard Smith around town, pat him on the back and say, thanks Richard, for making sure that people know that we're still alive and well at 90. All right, so you do that. All right, well again, thank you so much. All of the proceeds from the race are going into helping furnish the newly renovated senior center that starts taking place somewhere in January. So I'm thinking January of 2021 will be reopening and you'll be seeing all the fine improvements. So we look forward to that. Very quickly on town day, today is Tuesday, the 9th. 10th. Thank you very much, Joanne. And town day is this Saturday. So it hopefully will be another spectacular day. We hope to see you. Stop by the COA tent and we're always located on the corner of Mass Ave and Academy. Stop by and say hi. So Joanne, let's talk about you. So Joanne, you're a nurse. You joined us in September. So, no. No? I've lost my summer. That's why I said September. So you started in July. And tell us a little bit about what your perception is right as you've joined us. Well, this is my town. I grew up here. I know a lot of the folks here in town and I've worked primarily my entire nursing career in hospitals. So this is a big step away from the hospital and it's been a wonderful transition. I love working with the people down at the Council on Aging and the seniors here in town have been extremely welcoming. It's been really nice. I would have been surprised if you would have said that they weren't. They love their senior center and they love the staff and volunteers that are in there. Joanne, today I really want to focus on a little bit more serious, just for a little bit. So I indicated that one of our topics were the flu and you. So hopefully it won't be you, but the Council on Aging as a part of Health and Human Services partners with the Board of Health, Public Health, to bring flu clinics. So Joanne, if I can, we've got it up on the screen about our flu clinic schedule, but I'd like you to talk a little bit about it. Okay. So I'm just gonna kind of read out loud the four clinics that we already have planned. I'm sorry, but this program is living out loud, not read out loud, but go ahead. So the four clinics that we have already scheduled, the Arlington Senior Center will have two clinics at the Council on Aging. One will be Thursday, September 19th from four to 6 p.m. Wednesday, September 25th from 10 to 12 a.m. So these are going to be at the Maple Street, 27 Maple Street, the Senior Center building. Yes. And then Winslow Tower, one of our senior housing developments here, will be Wednesday, September 18th from 10 to 12, and that's on Winslow Street in the community room. Okay. Drake Village up at Arlington Heights will be on Tuesday, September 24th from 10 to 12 a.m., and that's at Drake Road Community Center up there. Okay. Those are all great places, but parking's very difficult. Right, so how do we get around that? Well, we are offering free rides from the Council on Aging this year. Okay. You need to call the Council on Aging about 48 hours before you need your ride. Right, and I'm gonna say, if you have an idea of which clinic that you're wanting to be a part of, Joanne is right. We generally require 48 hours, and it is subject to availability. We're hoping to have a lot of phone calls because we like to think of Arlington as healthy Arlington. Getting your flu shot is a part of being healthy. So as soon as you figure out what date you'd like to go, give our office a call so we don't have to turn you away in the event that there are a number of people. We want to be responsive to you. We want to remove the obstacle of not having a vehicle. You're right about parking. I mean, everyone knows that at the senior center, parking can be challenging, but certainly at Winslow Towers and Drake Village, the parking there is for residents only. So I wanna make that clear. So you either need to take public transportation to those locations, or please give us a call. We would love to be able to transport you for free. We want you to remain as healthy as you can. So this is good information on how to get there, but why the flu shot? I've never had the flu, but in fact, now that I've said that, I'll probably end up with a flu. But I get my flu shot. Well, the flu people kind of think, oh, it's just a bug, it'll go. But these flu strains are getting harder and harder to take care of, and people are getting sicker with them. Last year, we had, I have just a little statistic here I'd like to share, we had 49 million cases of the flu last year. Of those 49 million reported, 960,000 of them ended up in the hospital. Are you kidding me? So at a 49 million, you had nine, wow. 960,000 that never thought that they'd end up in the hospital with a flu, let alone in the hospital. And out of those 49 million, 79,000 deaths. You know, it's interesting. We don't really always talk about the deaths, but because we're in the field, this is not just seniors dying. You have young, healthy, athletic males and females that are dying from the flu. And there's a vaccination. Right, well, now I've heard, okay, so you're gonna hear that I've heard that I got my flu shot and then I got the flu. So I don't get the flu shot because I get the flu. Well, the flu shot, first of all, is not a live vaccination. So you can't really get the flu from it. What it basically does is it builds up your immunity to fight against the flu. When you get the shot, it takes about two weeks for that immunity to build up. So you may, if you feel like you've gotten a flu after the flu shot, you may have already had the flu shot, been exposed to it before you got the shot. Sometimes as well, the flu shot doesn't give you the flu, but you can get kind of that achy, tired feeling, not your blown out flu, vomiting, nausea, stuff like that, just more malaise, feeling a little tired, a little achy. But that should disappear in a couple of days. Kind of well worth that than having a flu for seven to 10 days that just knocks you out. So we're not talking about the 24 to 48 hour flu. We're talking the seven to 10 day. Right, right. And that's no vacation. Right, right. And every year they take, the CDC and the World Health Organization finds the best vaccine for us. It's changed pretty much yearly, depending upon what the flu symptoms and what the flu strains were. So every year, that's why they say get it yearly because they're changing yearly. This one covers three, the regular dose covers about three different strains. There is a high dose that we use usually for people over 65 and with very compromised health systems. And that would cover about four of the strains. Okay, so I wanna make a comment about the high dose. So the high dose we will have on a limited basis. Yes. And you have to call ahead to reserve the high dose. So in all the flyers and communications, you're gonna be seeing that call Joanne and Joanne will take your name and phone number and then we'll see which clinic that we'll be able to have it. So that piece is very important on the high dose. It's those for 65 and older. So if you're coming in at 60, 64, we're not able to give it to you. So in as much as we would send you to your doctor if there's any conversations, but we can't give it to you under 65, okay? So what about some... So in home, I would like to mention that while we've got your attention on that. We also, for those residents that are homebound, Joanne is also the point person. You would call into the office, you would speak with Joanne and she would schedule an appointment to come into your home to give you the vaccine. Now Joanne, why don't you give us a little bit of, your homebound, why do you need the flu shot because you're homebound? Well, you do have people coming in and out of your home. Okay, you could have caregivers. Caregivers, DNA. DNA, family members, anybody can get the flu. So if you're, unless you live in a place where you don't ever see anybody else, you can get exposed. Right, okay. Your best bet is just to get the flu shot and not worry about getting that sick. Okay, so talk a little bit more about the flu. So when you used your statistic of 700 and some odd thousand that end up in the hospital nationwide. Right. What kinds of sub-infections, secondary infections that happen with the flu? Well, what you see is you'll get bacterial infections. Bacterial infections, yep. The flu can attack your organs and shut down your organs, organ death, tissue damage, sepsis. It's just can snowball into something that you just never thought the flu would do. Yeah, I mean, when I think of the flu, I'm not thinking of sepsis. I'm not thinking of pneumonia. No. I'm not thinking of, I think probably if you had the flu, you're thinking about death, the first little bit that you have it. Sometimes you're praying for it at the beginning. But it is important to understand that it's not just a flu diagnosis. It's something that can really be quite serious and that's why we take such care in having flu clinics and trying to remove the obstacles of you getting there. So this is not one that you just say no. You just say, okay, let me educate myself on it. Right, right. Are there any other flu facts that we might wanna share so we know that the CDC on an annual basis, so that's Center of Disease Control. They take a look at the strains that might seem prevalent in any one season. Try to make one vaccine that covers three strains. Yes. High dose is the over 65. Oftentimes it's for the most vulnerable. Right, right. Who should get vaccinated? Everyone. Pretty much anybody over six months old should be vaccinated. If you're not sure about your child or anything, talk to your pediatrician. We will also for another day be in the schools giving vaccines to the children there and the workers as well. Right, and so what we've posted today is just the senior clinics. So there will typically we have, sometimes we have as many as 13 clinics. So you're gonna be seeing a lot of flu information and flu dates, but for those 60 and over, the dates that we're talking about today in the locations are very specific to our senior population. Right, right. As far as who should not get it, if you are of very compromised health, always talk to your doctors before you get any kind of shots like that. People with egg allergies can sometimes have reactions to flu shots. If you've had a reaction before, you need to tell the person that's gonna give you the vaccine that. And it should be done in a place where epinephrine is available and helps. So if you have a flu allergy, you may want to, I mean, a flu shot allergy, egg allergy, you may wanna talk to your doctor about that before just having it done anywhere. And we went over the bad things that can happen, the amount of people. I think actually it's very difficult for someone to imagine that it can advance. But I want to reiterate is that very healthy males and females of all ages have died, let alone just be hospitalized. You just, when you read these in the newspaper, you just have no idea how serious the flu is. And what's the best preventative measure? That's the one thing we haven't talked about besides being isolated. Hand washing, hand washing all the time. You say ABCs, right? You have to say it. So hand washing is key. And you'd much rather have rough hands from maybe the constant washing, but it sure beats that seven to 10 days of feeling horrible or even being hospitalized. So. Keep a little popper of Purell around the flu season as well. All right, that's good. Always coughing this way into your. Into your sleeve, yes, yes. You can tell we've all been through elementary school because we're all going like this. But no, those are really, really valid ways of helping to reduce. Just think when someone's coughing, the spray actually goes out, I think it was, they said like 12 feet or something. 12 feet, anyway. So if someone's coughing, run for the hills. But anyway, but on the serious note, we really want to make sure that Arlington seniors and then Arlington residents, when the other flu clinics come up, take advantage of it. The one thing you do need to do, again, if it's the high dose, you have to call Joanne at her number that's listed on the screen. If you have a homebound individual or if you know of someone that's homebound that needs a shot having us go to the house, we're happy to do that. Have to call to let us know. And other than that, we're going to be continually updating the community on when the other flu clinics are. It is not too soon to get your flu shot. Had you had the vaccine, I was going to be your first one just to show how brave I was. But anyway, Joanne, I want to thank you for that. What I'd like to do though is to kind of segue into, we'll have flu information at town day. So if you stop by our booth, Board of Health does not have a booth on that particular day because Board of Health is going up and down doing the food inspections for all the fine vendors that are along the way. But, and there's no flu clinic at town day, but we will have information that we can share with you. We do encourage it. What I'd like to do if you'd still sit and sit with me while we finish the program, I'd like to share some information. So we're going to go from flu. Now we're going to go to something a little as equally serious, but a different mode. So last time that we met, we talked a little bit about tax relief programs. So today I want to let you know what tax relief programs are open for enrollment. We have talked about the senior property work-off program. So will the annual income figures will have up for you? They might be behind me right at the moment, but I'll just read them. So if you're a single individual, your annual income can be up to $57,000 a year. If you're married filing jointly, the maximum household income is $85,000. And then if you're head of household, the annual income is $71,000. So these are incomes that you cannot exceed to participate in these programs. So the senior work-off program, the applications are available in the Council on Aging Office as well as the veterans tax work-off program as well. So the reason we say work-off is that we take the applications, we interview you, we look for the best placement with any municipal office, and then you go in, whether you call it volunteering or working off, the best deal is that you get a reduction of your third quarter real estate taxes. So that's really great. So we already have on the senior work-off programs, this opened up September one, we already have seven applications. I encourage you not to delay and I encourage you to apply. There is no priority given to the one who delivered their application on the first day versus the last day, work begins in November. We interview folks and we want the best placement for you as well as for the department. So please don't hesitate. That's true with the veterans program. So let's get going and let's come into the COA and get your applications. One program that is not tax relief, but it operates similarly, is called the Harry Barber Community Service Program. Now for those of you that lived in town a long time, you may remember Harry Barber. So Harry Barber was a town resident very much into community service. And years ago, and after he passed away, the community adopted the Harry Barber Community Service Program. So this particular program, Joanne, and you may not be aware of this, but it's for renters. So those individuals that rent that are over 60 and retired Arlington residents. So you have to be retired. You can do the same kinds of work within Arlington and receive a stipend of $1,500. All of our programs are subject to federal tax. So the real estate work off programs are not state taxed. So if you have any questions, you're always welcome to call our office. If you understand just what we've been talking about without any questions, just come into our office and pick up an application. We'd love to see you participate. We have 20 slots available. Let's make it that maybe next year we have 40 slots, but we don't know if we have the need unless we have you coming in. So that's great. So I think what I'd like to do is perhaps just wrap up a little bit. I wanna go over and just say thank you so much for everyone who participated in the 5K race. It was a fabulous day. Those funds are gonna come right back to us in the senior center. I do want to go over the flu shot. The ones, some things that we do need that we didn't address earlier is that you need to bring your insurance card and ID. So we do need your insurance card. We do need your ID. The forms are also available on the Arlington website if you wanna print out your form and have it ready when you come. Okay, and that's perfect that we didn't mention Joanne. So what Joanne, just to reiterate what Joanne is saying is that right on the town website under health and human services, there as you navigate onto the website there will be the flu shot forms. But we'll have plenty of forms right at the center. So if you don't have a computer at home or if you can't find the flu shot forms right online, don't worry, we'll have it there. We wanna make sure you get your flu shot. So Joanne, I really, I can't be happier that you joined the Council on Aging in July. July has flown and it's just, it's September and you've met so many really great people. You're going to be around. You're a great resource. So Joanne also has a Parkinson's program actually that's the one thing we didn't mention. So Parkinson's support group that started about four months ago. We meet the third Tuesday of the month at the Whittemore-Robbins house from 10 to 11. 11.15. And this month we've got Bay State physical therapy that's coming in as a guest lecturer talking about neuropathy and how you work around it as the disease progresses. Great group, love to have you come and join us. That's great. Well, we thank you. We held your attention. Hopefully it didn't turn us off, but until we see you again, we're going to be living out loud.