Dealing with multiple health problems
The Young Kings & Queens Chess Club hosted an Easter Break Chess Tournament on Tuesday, April 23
at Sousa Park.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, M BT AY 22-28, 2015 69
Action
Association
An unfortunate challenge
many older adults face is
living with multiple health
problems. More than half of
all adults 65 and older have
three or more ongoing medical
problems, so fi guring out
the best treatment can be
tricky.
Here are some tips for
working with your healthcare
provider when you have several
chronic health problems:
Get as much information
about treatment options as
possible.
You should work with
your healthcare provider to
understand your options for
care and take an active role
in deciding what kind of care
you would like. You should
also decide if you want to
make all of your care decisions
on your own or include
family members or friends.
Make sure your healthcare
provider understands
your priorities for care.
Ask your healthcare provider
how different treatment
options will affect the
aspects of your life that are
most important to you, such
as your level of independence,
stamina, or pain.
Ask questions about
“trade-offs” between benefi ts
and risks of treatments.
Most medications and
other treatments have both
benefi ts and risks. Talk with
your healthcare provider
about the benefi ts of each
treatment as well as possible
drawbacks. This will help
you decide which option is
best for you.
Let your healthcare professional
know immediately
if a treatment doesn’t seem
to be working or is causing
problems.
There isn’t a lot of research
on how older adults
with complex health problems
respond to treatments,
so it’s very important for you
or your caregiver to tell your
healthcare provider—right
away—if a treatment doesn’t
seem to be working or is
causing side effects.
Let your healthcare provider
know if your treatment
is too complicated or diffi cult
for you to follow.
The more complicated
treatment instructions are,
the more likely patients are to
stop following them. Let your
healthcare provider know if
your treatment becomes too
complicated or diffi cult for
you to follow. And make sure
you understand all instructions
before you leave your
provider’s offi ce.
Make the most of treatments
that cause few or no
side effects.
Your healthcare providers
should make the most important
and effective treatments
the highest priority while
getting you the most benefi ts
and least amount of risks and
side effects.
Brought to you by Montefi
ore Medical Group,
R.A.I.N. and the Hartford Institute
for Geriatric Nursing
@ NYU, based on American
Geriatric Society materials.
YOUNG K&Q CHESS CLUB HOSTS EASTER TOURNAMENT
(Above) Young Kings & Queens Chess Club director Romeo Davis (r) with local youth that came out to
play chess in Sousa Park. Photo by Silvio Pacifi co
BY FRANK V. VERNUCCIO, JR.
Many in the media, who
should know better, have
been disturbingly reticent
about the growing acceptability
and advocacy of concepts
which will eliminate the constitutional
framework which
has preserved American freedoms
since the founding of the
nation. While singular bad
ideas have been discussed and
occasionally criticized, the totality
of the approach many on
the left have pursued has been
ignored. Consider the list.
Democrat presidential contenders
such as Beto O’Rourke,
Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth
Warren, Kristen Gillibrand
and Kamala Harris have discussed
‘packing’ the U.S. Supreme
Court to ensure that
Progressive outcomes win.
In an era when one branch of
the judiciary, the Ninth Circuit,
frequently issues rulings
based on its political preferences
rather than statutory or
Constitutional law, this represents
a combined, dangerous
attack on the sanctity of the legal
process.
Fearing an overbearing
central government powerful
enough to trample individual
rights, the Constitution’s
framers rendered presidential
elections subject to an Electoral
College which prevents
a few large states from dominating
Washington. Elizabeth
Warren, Kamala Harris, Beto
O’Rourke and Pete Buttigieg
have discussed eliminating it.
The Founders also provided
for a Senate where the
states would be equally represented.
The late Rep. John
Dingle (D-Michigan) proposed
abolishing that, too.
The Bill of Rights is under
full-scale assault, with barely
a whimper of protest to be
heard in most news outlets.
In 2014, Tom Udall (DNew
Mexico) and Charles
Schumer (D-New York), proposed
a measure that would
limit free speech protections
as they pertain to campaign
donations. The proposed legislation
gained 43 Senate supporters—
all Democrats. At a
Senate Rules Committee hearing
in 2014, Schumer stated
that “The First Amendment is
sacred, but the First Amendment
is not absolute.” The Republican
minority was able to
block the measure.
The Second Amendment
is under constant attack. In
many Democrat-controlled jurisdictions
such as New York
City, it has, in practice, been
wholly ignored.
The Tenth Amendment,
which mandates that those
powers not specifi cally
granted to the federal government
belong to the states or
the people, has been virtually
wiped out by an ever-growing
federal presence in the daily
lives of the American people.
The Obamacare mandates
that private organizations
cover procedures that are directly
opposed to their belief
principles were a direct attack
on Freedom of Religion. That
assault on faith is growing
more brazen. Senators Diane
Feinstein, Kamala Harris,
(Both D-California) and Mazie
Hirono (D-Hawaii) have implied
that Catholics may not
be fi t to serve as judges.
And, of course, there is the
growing acceptance of anti-
Semitism on the part of the
left.
Elizabeth Warren, Bernie
Sanders, Beto O’Rourke,
Kamala Harris and independent
presidential contender
Howard Schultz, announced
that they will not attend this
year’s AIPAC (American Israel
Public Affairs Committee)
event, which had traditionally
been an important
stop for presidential hopefuls
seeking the support of Jewish
voters. That’s just the icing on
the cake. The growing tolerance
of anti-Semitic leanings
within the Democrat Party is
highlighted by the rise to the
position of Deputy DNC chair
during 2017–2018 by Keith Ellison,
(now the Attorney General
of Minnesota) who travels
within anti-Semitic circles.
The harsh statements about
Jews of several newly-elected
Democrat members of the
House of Representatives continues
that trend.
Any of these individual
enumerated attacks on the
Constitution and the Bill of
Rights would be worrisome.
Taken as a whole they are a
cause for the deepest concern,
particularly since they have
received high-profi le backing.
Yet these consolidated
attempts to radically alter the
core substance of American
government, which has produced
more freedom for more
people than anything humanity
has ever attempted, have
barely been given any attention.
That silence, particularly
on the part of those in the media,
elected offi ce, and elsewhere
has its own dire signifi -
cance. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer
observed, “Silence in the face
of evil is itself evil. God will
not hold us guiltless. Not to
speak is to speak. Not to act is
to act.”