IACRF SENIORS WELCOME FALL SEASON
Contributed By - Dr. Prakash V Kotecha and Bhagubhai Patel
Celebrating the change in season, IACRF Seniors are looking forward to the festive season of October for Navratri and Diwali season as colorful as vibrant colors of Fall Foliage .
Dr Prakash Kotecha paid tribute to a great hero Senator John McCain who served our country from 1982 to 2018. He was the son of an Admiral and served in the Navy too. On the 26th of October 1967 during Vietnam war, his plane was shot down and he was captured as a POW, injured and tortured without any treatment. Being an Admiral’s son, he had the advantage of being released earlier but he refused to avail it. He was a man of integrity. As a US senator he was known as a maverick, accomplished a lot with bipartisan spirit, and reached top position as a politician i.e. a POTUS candidate. He died of brain cancer on August 25, 2018. One-minute silence was observed to pay homage to the departed soul.
Ganesh Chaturthi Celebration
Welcome to festival time was initiated by celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi. Prakash Deshmukh detailed about Ganesh Chaturthi celebration at Ekta Mandir for the week and Ganesh Visarjan on 23rd September.
Guest Presentation on Senior Moments and Alzheimer’s Disease
We had earlier visited the Banner Alzheimer Institute and learnt about the ongoing research there. To recognize World Alzheimer's Day on September 21, on our invitation, Terry Fogerty and Heather Mulder, the outreach program senior managers from Banner Alzheimer Institute made presentation on “Senior moments or something more” and “Promising Research for prevention of Alzheimer Disease” besides explaining the ongoing clinical research at the institute. Dr. Kinal Bhatt, a young researcher who accompanied the team introduced the speakers from Banner.
Heather mentioned that there are 5.7m Americans suffering from Alzheimer’s and the number could increase to 11m to 16m by the year 2050 if proper care is not taken. It is one of the six leading causes of death in the country. Its treatment is very expensive. She explained very beautifully the difference between senior moments and Alzheimer’s/Dementia. Terry explained that dementia is a symptom of the disease. There are hundred types of dementia. Irreversible dementia is a serious one. Frequency and severity of symptoms can increase overtime.
People with this brain disease can reduce the risk of cognitive impairment by adopting healthy lifestyle. Physical workouts, mental exercises by reading or doing puzzles or sudoku, checking with the doctor for depression, stress/anxiety or for medical condition like high blood pressure or diabetes etc. are recommended. Always stay socially connected with family and friends. Living in isolation is as dangerous as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Quit smoking, as it will reduce the risk of cognitive decline. Eat balanced diet with more vegetables and fruits and get enough sleep.
Guests Reunion:
Dr. Jaswant Singh Sachdev kindly joined us on this event and was very pleased with our program. In his message of appreciation, he mentioned in his email:
“I was greatly delighted and overjoyed with the event. I have been hearing a lot about this beautiful and well-organized program for some time. However never had the opportunity to visit. What I saw last Thursday was something beyond my imagination. Beautifully arranged, nicely conducted, very informative, re-union and great company of many longtime friends, everything was there and if that were not enough sumptuous lunch with mouthwatering dishes served enough full to the brim, all this was a dream come true. I sincerely congratulate the organizers and the attendees. Pray that it goes on forever.”
News Update: IACRF Members are shortly getting two Automatic External Defibrillator installed one for the temple and the other for the hall donated by Dr. Ashish & Namrata Sachdev.
Lunch for the month was sponsored by Prakash & Pushpa Desmukh, Manhar & Manjula Khatri, Usha & Suraj Gautam, Birnda & Krishnamurhty Kumar and Balbir & Amrita Khurana and Davinder Kaur.
IACRF members meet every Thursday from 9-30 AM to 4-00 PM. For more details please email pvkotecha@gmail.com.
Photographs by Pradumna Kshatriya and Jon Banks