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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 1988)
r3 ^ (u u ^ :_=: — -r*. n, ^ ro 7^ y» £ g cn ^ ^ ^ > | ii £ _c -< <Sg— ^ '> H* j= by Lawson Reilly <310^ i 1 T*he setting sun glares into patient eyes of three people waiting silently in the pastel-flowered “living room” for dinner to begin at the Brazos Valley Geriatric Center in College Station. Three bloated goldfish watch the near-empty waiting room from a large, gloomy tank, drifting listlessly. While residents begin to shuffle toward the dining area, a worker pushes a cart loaded with meals to those unable to leave their rooms. Amidst all the activity, everything stays suprisingly quiet, like a silent movie of the past. A couple in their early sixties walk briskly out the nursing home’s door toward their car, having just finished a visit with a parent. On the way to their home in Bryan, they pass the Walden on Memorial Retirement Center. Inside Walden’s main building workers set tables in a large dining room. A few residents watch a movie on a wide-screen television while others tend to personal business within their apartments. Some are probably in their kitchen preparing their own dinner or getting ready to eat out. f^egardless of where or how they live, senior citizens are a substantial part of the Bryan-College Station community. According to the 1980 Census, more than 6,000 people, or 6.8 percent of the Bryan- College Station community, were over 65 years old. And the over-64 population of Texas has grown more than 15 percent since then. Most of them live in their own homes, or with family members. However, the 1980 Census showed that slightly more than 7 percent of Bryan-College Station’s elderly lived in institutions, such as hospitals or nursing homes. Almost 22 percent had incomes below the poverty level. In his book, “Later Life, The Realities of Aging,” Harold Cox, a sociology professor at Indiana State University, says people have many misconceptions about the elderly and their problems. While older people must deal with forced retirement, low fixed incomes, increased medical costs, physical disabilities and a higher susceptibility to crime, their hardships are often exaggerated, the book says. “The general public perceives the problem to be considerably greater than what older Americans actually experience,” Cox says. Roberta Li > dquist, director of the Area Agency on Aging in Brazos County, says the elderly in Bryan- College Station have no more problems than older people in other communities. “Income is always the No. 1 problem,” she says. Many senior citizens in the community are retired and living on fixed incomes, Lindquist says medical bills generally increase with age, and fixed incomes make them more difficult to pay. Although the plight of the elderly may be slightly exaggerated, there are some problems accompanying old age which require the help of others. Bryan-College Station needs more volunteers to help older people with chores and errands in their homes, Lindquist says. “People are living longer, but at the same time their skills at performing everyday tasks are declining,” Lindquist says. Seemingly simple tasks, such as balancing a checkbook, doing the laundry, or cooking a meal, can become difficult if one’s mobility, agility or strength is affected by age, she says, and many elderly cannot afford to hire the help they need. The help available falls far short of the actual need, she says. Donnetta Wilson, a social worker at the Department of Human Resources, says the department funds a community Family Care Program. She says the program puts people in homes of senior citizens to help them with the problems Lindquist mentioned. The department also funds an adult day care center in Bryan. Hazel Brown, the Elm Street Center director, says senior citizens are picked up and brought to the center and given meals and personal hygiene assistance. She says they are also encouraged to participate in arts and crafts activities and exercise programs. The Senior Citizen Center in Bryan has been providing activities, health programs and meeting places for older people for 11 years, says Joe E. Evans, president of the center. It has about 300 members, he says. “We have a real nice facility here, and we’d like to see more people using it, ” Evans says. But growing older has its advantages as well as its downfalls. Some department stores in the area give senior citizens discounts or coupons. Beall’s department store sponsors a free 55 Club. Those 55 years old or older are eligible for membership in the club and can then recieve a 15 percent discount on all purchases the first Tuesday of each month. Angie Cardella, an office clerk at Beall’s in Post Oak Mall, says that store’s club has about 800 members. J.C. Penney also sponsors a free 55-and-older senior citizens club. Members recieve a 15 percent discount on the second Tuesday of each month. The J.C. Penney in Post Oak Mall has several hundred members, assistant manager Larry Kozak says. Sears Roebuck and Co. sponsors the Mature Outlook organization, a club for older adults. The organization distributes a magazine to members containing not only Sears coupons and discount offers for airlines and hotels, but also articles on health, finance matters, home improvement and feature topics. Jim Loveless, manager of the Post Oak Mall Sears, says members are always using the coupons at his store. L_Jnfortunately, more than 400 senior citizens in Bryan-College Station are unable to take advantage of all the programs and services available to them. They spend much of their time in nursing homes or similar care facilities. Of the four facilities in Bryan- College Station providing nursing home service, two are full and two have vacancies. Mel Rule, assistant activities director at the Sherwood Health Care Facility in Bryan, says the home has a waiting list “a mile long.” However, Melodee Hursey, a social worker at the Leisure Lodge Nursing Center in Bryan, says anyone needing to move into a nursing home in the Bryan-College Station area would be able to. Adele Schulze says she has been a resident of the Brazos Valley Geriatric Center for one and a half years. Her right side is paralyzed, but she smiles peacefully when she could be bitter. Schulze says she understands why she is in the nursing home. Her family works and cannot take care of her at home, she says. However, Schulze says, her family visits often. Unlike her, many people in the home feel neglected, she says. Some feel their families don’t want them anymore. Schulze says loneliness is a widespread problem in nursing homes. She says college students could really help by visiting the homes more often and talking with the residents. Many Texas A&M student organizations practice what Schulze preaches by arranging trips to nursing homes and retirement communities. Junior Diane Robinson, a junior speech communications major and Alpha Phi Omega’s vice president of projects, says the service fraternity has organized several trips to the Brazos Valley Geriatric Center. Robinson says the club tries to get five or 10 people together two times a month to visit the home. Some members don’t like to go because they feel intimidated or uncomfortable around the older people, she says. Robinson, however, enjoys the visits. “It’s an opportunity,” she says. “You can leam a lot from them. ” In addition to visiting homes, APO painted an elderly lady’s house last year because she could not afford to hire painters. Junior Elissa Ellis, a junior English major and director of outreach programs for MSC Hospitality, says her organization has visited the Walden Retirement Center. She says they plan to put together a talent show for the center this spring. Walden residents and Hospitality members both will help with the show. Her organization has also visited Crestview Methodist Retirement 8/At Ease h/AT r-asp