October 17, 2025 • 54 mins
We all want to live longer—but what most of us really want is to live well.
In this episode of Seniors Home Zone, Rebecca Finegan welcomes Dr. Karina Loyo, Ph.D. (Health Promotion & Gerontology), MBA, gerontologist, aging and wellness expert, and author of The Longevity Blueprint for Health, Wealth, and Purpose.
Together, they explore how longevity is more than lifespan—it’s about living those years with energy, strength, and meaning. Dr. Loyo shares how her research and practical framework help people create a life that supports who they are and who they’re becoming.
Listeners will learn:
- What “longevity literacy” really means
- How to align health, mindset, and money for sustainable well-being
- Why purpose and connection matter just as much as nutrition and movement
This is a conversation about thriving in the years ahead—not just surviving them.
If you found this episode helpful, please follow, rate, and share with someone who needs encouragement today.
Connect with Rebecca Finegan at seniorshomezone.com
📩 Questions or ideas? Email: seniorshomezone@gmail.com
#SeniorsHomeZone #AgingInPlace #SeniorCareSupport
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to Seniors Home Zone, where we talk about
life's transitions.
I'm Rebecca Finnegan, and todaywe're joined by Dr.
Karina Loyal, a gerontologist,author of Longevity Blueprint,
and owner of a restaurant.
Dr.
Loyal, thank you very much forjoining me today.
SPEAKER_01 (00:22):
Thank you, Rebecca, for having me.
I really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00 (00:25):
You're welcome.
I want you to start by tellingus how you fell in love with
what you do.
SPEAKER_01 (00:35):
I absolutely love spending time with my
grandparents.
Most people don't recognize theyare the people who are like the
living history museums, right?
They've been there, they've donethat.
I don't like to hear it out of abook and have to imagine it when
I have somebody who could tellme all about it and what they
lived.
And so I always had a hugerespect for my grandparents.
(00:58):
But what got me into thegerontology side of it was when
I was a senior in high school,about the last semester or last
month into it, my mother got acall from my grandfather and he
asked if we could move back toSan Marcos, Texas.
And my mom said, there is noway, because my dad had a job
with the Mexican governmentworking in the milk industry.
So we were kind of stuck inMexico as a family.
(01:21):
I was graduating, and so I said,Hey, why don't I go?
How hard can it be to help mygrandfather with my grandmother
who had Alzheimer's?
I ended up with my littlebrother growing up, so I thought
it was about the same thing.
And in a way, it was.
It was just a larger person, butthey could do a lot of things
independently as long as youdirected them.
(01:42):
The first few months were reallygreat, got to spend a lot of
quality time with them, went tothe university at the same time,
which was only a few blocksaway.
And it was all great until mygrandfather had a stroke three
months later.
I found him on the bathroomfloor, helped him up from there.
And I thought he had justfallen, but it turns out he
(02:02):
actually had a stroke.
And then after that, he waswheelchair-bound and had a
speech impediment.
Well, then I had two people Ihad to take care of, right?
And three days after that, Iturned 19.
So that was how I was throwninto this whole caregiving for
older folks.
And I just became reallypassionate about it because the
(02:23):
first people that I cared forwere so close to me.
I loved Mama Hank and Papa Koch.
That's what we called them.
We had so many great memories,and they had done so many great
things.
Like they lived in Laos,Vietnam, and Thailand for 12
years helping establishuniversities.
I got to hear all about what itwas like there during the war.
Living history.
(02:43):
And a lot of older folks, welook at them, we see them with
walkers and canes, and we neverthink, I wonder what they did
when they were a teenager.
I wonder what they livedthrough.
And that always fascinated me.
And so spending time with themto me is just a treasure.
Nobody can pay me for that muchtime.
SPEAKER_00 (03:02):
How did you learn to take care of someone with
Alzheimer's?
Because that's not something youjust pick up.
SPEAKER_01 (03:09):
Right, no.
And unfortunately, at 18, I wasjust kind of thrown into it.
And so I did a lot of trial byerror.
My grandmother actually happenedto be a very easy person.
So I would just tell her what todo, and she would usually do it.
Although there was a time when Iwould be like, okay, grandma,
(03:29):
I've got the water running inthe tub, it's the right
temperature.
I've got your clean clothes hereready for you to put away.
And, you know, you hear thewater running for about 15
minutes, then she'd turn it off,she'd come out, the back of her
hair was wet, but she wouldstill smell just like she did
before.
And it took me about three daysto figure out that she wasn't
taking a bath.
(03:50):
She was just dipping her handsin the water and putting wetting
the back of her hair.
I mean, how creative is that?
And it turns out she didn't wantto be cold in the water.
So, as we talked a little bitabout it, because people think
once you have Alzheimer's, youcan't talk with people, and
that's not true.
A lot of them are still veryconversant and very capable of
(04:10):
doing things, especially in theearly parts of it.
So we talked about what did shelike or not like about the bath,
and she didn't like having toget out of the bath because it
was so cold.
And so at that point in time, wemade arrangements for me to be
there to receive her with atowel dryer off as soon as
possible.
We also turned up thetemperature so it would be
warmer in that room whenever shetook a bath.
(04:32):
And that really helped.
SPEAKER_00 (04:33):
That's nice.
So tell me a little bit moreabout your grandfather and how
you had to help him.
SPEAKER_01 (04:39):
Wow.
Okay.
So he was six foot five andabout 320 pounds when this all
thing happened.
Oh my god.
No, luckily, I know.
Luckily, he still had enoughenergy to help himself get in
and out of that wheelchair.
Uh, but he just wasn't stableenough to walk.
He he'd like to roll himselfinto the kitchen and make his
(05:01):
own food.
And so I'd have to be there to,you know, supervise and help and
hand him the things that were onthe top shelf or get things that
were way too low because Ididn't want him flopping out of
the wheelchair.
Uh, he really tried to be asindependent as possible, but you
know, you have to make sure thatthey stay safe.
Right.
So I was there to help withthat.
And then one of the other thingsthat he absolutely loved was to
(05:24):
go on a ride.
And this was the probably themost challenging thing because
he would convince my grandmotherto grab the keys and take them
for a ride.
Well, you can imagine she's gotAlzheimer's, he's in a
wheelchair.
He would tell her what to do.
They'd put the wheelchair in theback of the car and they'd
(05:45):
leave.
And then we didn't know wherethey were.
We found out he had five sets ofcar keys.
Once we found them all, he wasno longer able to do that.
But it seemed like those carkeys just multiplied.
They would be gone for hours.
And they just drove around.
But driving around when you haveAlzheimer's and not really
knowing where you're going, evenif you're being directed by
(06:06):
somebody who knows where they'regoing, is still kind of a
challenge.
Eventually, we just madearrangements so that we would go
on car rides twice a week, andthey really look forward to
those.
They were fun because I got totalk to them about their past
and the different areas in whichwe would go visit.
He liked to go all sorts ofplaces and had stories to tell
(06:26):
for every single place wevisited.
SPEAKER_00 (06:28):
Oh, those stories are memories.
They are.
You then went to school tobecome a gerontologist.
And what was your goal for doingthat?
SPEAKER_01 (06:36):
Believe it or not, I studied theater arts first
because I was extremely shy andI would have never been able to
do this conversation before.
But it really helped me learnmore about public speaking.
And then my dad told me I had tolearn something useful, so I got
the MBA.
And then finally I did what Iwanted to do, and I got the PhD
(06:59):
in health promotion andgerontology because that's where
my passion was.
Most young people, I didn'texactly know everything that I
wanted to do, even though I wasswayed to that part of it and
always passionate about workingwith the older folks.
I did spend 16 years doingtherapeutic massage on older
folks and doing some home healthcare with them as well, in
(07:22):
addition to the four and a halfyears I spend with my
grandparents.
SPEAKER_00 (07:25):
Tell me about your book, Longevity Blueprint.
SPEAKER_01 (07:29):
So I read the longevity blueprint because one
of the things that I saw overand over again was there would
be one medical crisis and itwould turn into a financial
crisis initially for the couple.
And then eventually, as theadult children came into the
picture, it would trickle downinto financial burden for them
(07:49):
with the decisions that theymade.
And then I just saw that itbecame this generational
financial crisis.
And one of the things that Iexcel at is planning and
logistics and being able to lookat the whole system of things
and how everything impactseverything else.
I put all the knowledge that Ihave into that book to be able
(08:10):
to help people understand whatthat whole trajectory of aging
is going to be, what to expect,what they should be doing in
order to take advantage of someof the healthier periods in
life, how to respond to some ofthese crises so that they do not
become that generationalfinancial crisis.
I wrote the book in such a waythat I'm having conversations
(08:33):
with you as we read the book andgo along.
I am talking to you about, youknow, what your passions are.
What are you doing to remainsocially engaged?
What do you still want to dowith the rest of your life?
And how do we make sure that youget to the end of your life as
healthy as you possibly can?
(08:53):
That's what I'm trying to do.
SPEAKER_00 (08:55):
That's great.
Well, I'm a senior.
What am I going to take awayfrom this book?
SPEAKER_01 (09:00):
I think there's a whole lot of things that you can
take away.
Hopefully, inspire you to havethe best last decades of your
life possible to take controland know that it's never too
late to change your healthbecause it doesn't matter the
choices that you've made before.
Certainly it can be adisadvantage depending on what
you did, right?
(09:20):
If you didn't exercise, if youdidn't eat right, no, we can't
make you as healthier aspossible.
Okay.
So for seniors, I think there isa whole lot of information in
it.
For example, how do you havethat best last decades possible?
How do you improve your qualityof life so that you can
definitely have the best outcomewith your life as possible?
(09:42):
Because we all want to remainindependent, right?
Then there's other things likeputting together your healthcare
team and your wellness team.
They're not the same thing.
Healthcare is for when you havea health issue.
Wellness is to keep you well andhealthy for the rest of your
life.
Also, an asset protection team,because we want to make sure
that your assets are protectedand that they last you for the
(10:04):
rest of your life.
And the documents that need tobe in place.
Not the documents that you needas you age, but the documents we
should all have had put intoplace when we were 18 and above.
So, what do we need to make surethat all that is in place?
How do I communicate with mychildren what it is that I want
and what my desires are ifsomething happens to me?
(10:24):
So, for example, if I have astroke like my grandfather did
and I can't communicate, now hecould talk a little bit and I
could understand.
Most people couldn't, but dothey know whether you like
oatmeal or not?
And are they gonna think you'rerude because you push it away
and refuse to eat?
Well, if you've never liked it,why would you start liking it
now?
Or how do you like your coffee?
(10:45):
And things like the five-yearMedicaid clawback so that you
know that you have to plan aheadin order to protect your assets
so that you and your spouse areable to keep them and you don't
become that financial burden toyour family members.
And then there's a whole lot oflifestyle strategies so that you
can improve your health andreally have the best life
(11:07):
possible.
SPEAKER_00 (11:07):
Those are just some of the things that you'll learn.
Oh, that's a lot of information.
When you're 18, people usuallydon't think of a wheel until
they're older.
Why 18?
SPEAKER_01 (11:19):
Well, at the age of 18, your doctors will no longer
talk to anybody else becauseyou're an adult.
So if you have a child going offto college and they're 18, do
you really want to have yourhands tied if they're in a car
wreck, for example?
Not that I'm wishing that onanybody, but things happen.
And if we're not able to helpbecause we don't have a medical
(11:40):
power of attorney or we don'thave a dual durable power of
attorney, then it really doestie our hands.
And the other thing people don'tusually include, which they need
to, is a hip authorization form,which is the one that allows the
doctors to be able to show youall the medical records in order
for you to execute yourdecisions as a medical power of
(12:01):
attorney.
So all of these are reallyimportant things.
And that key date is your 18thbirthday.
These are not things that youhave to wait until you're 65
plus.
These are things that we shouldhave been having all along, and
then we should have beenupdating them.
But the reality is that lessthan 50% of all people in the
United States have thesedocuments in place.
(12:22):
And most people think that, oh,I don't have very much, I don't
own very much, it's all gonna beokay.
If you don't make some of thesechoices, when it comes to wills
and trust, Medicaid could take awhole lot out of your retirement
and not have any funds left overfor your surviving spouse.
And that's just terrible becausethey were beside you their whole
(12:44):
life, making sure that you werewell taken care of.
Don't you want to make surethey're well taken care of?
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (12:51):
Yes.
Yeah.
As a caregiver, tell me how thisbook will help me.
SPEAKER_01 (12:56):
As a caregiver, it'll help you personally as you
prepare to age, but to be ableto support your aging loved one
and have the conversations thatneed to be had and understand
the different stages that happenin aging, and then how quickly
that medical crisis can throwthem from being completely
independent to needing to becompletely dependent on someone,
(13:18):
and then maybe bouncing back tosemi-independence or ending up
in an end-of-life type ofsituation.
So there are a couple ofchapters that will teach you all
about what to expect as peopleage.
And then there's a chapter allabout communicating with your
loved one.
You can read that with theframework of what I'm suggesting
(13:41):
they put into place and how theyshould talk to you, and then you
will be more open and receptiveto them when that conversation
happens.
There's also some chapters onaging in place and what that
aging in place means.
Being able to know is my mom ordad safe in the home they're in,
or do I need to help them lookfor someplace else to live, or
(14:05):
encourage them to think about,you know, their safety and their
lifestyle in the current homeand how that may be different,
then I think that's really, youknow, some important things that
you will learn from that.
SPEAKER_00 (14:16):
And I know you're a certified aging and play
specialist as well as I am.
So that allows us to go into ahome to make suggestions for
remodeling.
Correct.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (14:30):
Yes, and it also helps us be able to identify a
new home that you may bethinking about moving into and
being able to assess it to makesure that it is something that's
going to be able to grow withyour aging needs.
And I think that's reallyimportant because we have this
idea that we're always going tobe as healthy as we are today.
People have slips and falls.
(14:51):
One in four adults over the ageof 65 will have a slip and fall.
Of those, a third of them willneed to be seek some kind of
medical attention.
And a third of the ones that endup with needs for medical
attention will end up in ahospital, and a third of those
will die within 30 days.
So there's a lot of things thatcome into place when thinking
(15:14):
about is my home safe enough forme now?
And will it provide for me inthe next two to three decades if
that's what I'm looking at?
SPEAKER_00 (15:23):
As far as aging in place, we want to look at
safety.
What things do you recommendthat we do to keep our seniors
safe?
SPEAKER_01 (15:33):
The biggest thing is the fall prevention because it
can be prevented.
And it's all about learning somenew habits.
And I say habits because, forexample, one of the things that
happens as we get older is wetend to sit longer.
And the longer we sit, the morethe blood pools in our legs.
So then when we go to stand up,some people will get that dizzy
(15:53):
feeling.
And it can happen in your 40sand 50s.
So it's not something that'sabout the magic age of 65 and
above, right?
And so what I tell people is ifyou sit for a long time, you
want to move your legs up anddown before you get up.
Or the other thing you can do isyou can stand up, sit down,
stand up, sit down, stand up,sit down.
(16:14):
I call those micro exercises.
And so with the sitting andstanding, the great part about
that is if you get into thehabit of sitting back down three
times every time that you getup, you're gonna do two things.
The first thing is you're gonnabe in a very safe place should
you feel that blackout dizzyfeeling.
So you're not gonna fall andyou're just gonna end up back in
(16:36):
that chair because you just satdown back in it.
So that's the first thing that'sreally good.
And then the second part aboutit that I think is even more
amazing is this whole concept ofmicro exercise.
And micro exercise meansintegrating additional strength
training exercises into everydaylife.
Think about how many times doyou stand up in a day?
(16:58):
If I tell you, Rebecca, I wouldlike for you to do 50 squats
today, you're gonna look at meand say, you're insane.
But if I tell you, I want you todo three squats onto your chair,
because that's essentially whatyou're doing, up and down, three
times every time you stand up.
If you stand up 20 times, whichis a small amount, you're gonna
(17:23):
do 60 of them.
And most people are gonna get upmore than 20 times.
And so if you do it every time,you're gonna get a lot of
exercise.
And one of the things thatpeople don't realize is that
there's a whole body ofliterature about the strength of
your legs being a predictor ofyour longevity and your health
(17:43):
span.
And health span is what we want.
We don't want to live a longlife stuck in bed or in a
wheelchair.
We want to live a long lifewhere we can run circles around
everybody else and still be ableto squat down and hug our
grandchild, right?
So these are the things thathelp us do that is these micro
exercises.
(18:04):
And so I challenge everybody todo that because the other thing
is, like I said, it's gonna stopyou from falling because you got
dizzy.
Because one of the things aboutthat stand-up dizziness fall is
that most people will stand upand they won't fall right away.
It's like three to five stepsaway.
And at that point in time,you're not next to anything that
(18:24):
you can hold on to and it comeson really suddenly.
So by moving your legs up anddown or doing those squats,
you're going to prevent thatfrom happening.
And that will help you avoid somany falls.
That is great advice.
SPEAKER_00 (18:40):
Thank you very much for that.
SPEAKER_01 (18:42):
Yeah, well, you know, after I had a friend who
is a uh title officer have afall after standing up from her
dining room table and felt thatblackout, and she ended up
breaking her ankle and ended upwith a black eye and a scraped
arm.
I'm like, I'm on a mission nowto make sure everybody over the
(19:05):
age of 40 thinks about movingbefore moving when they get up
out of chair if they've beensitting more than 20 minutes.
SPEAKER_00 (19:12):
Because that is to someone who gets older that's
gonna do that.
That's pretty much for everyone.
SPEAKER_01 (19:17):
It is.
It's something for everybody,yes.
Caregivers too.
unknown (19:22):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (19:22):
And then one more thing on the caregivers is no
matter what, you want toconsider your spine.
So if somebody falls that you'recaregiving, you don't want to
try to catch them with a waythat's gonna compromise your
lower back because you don'twant to get injured.
And you don't want to pick themup in a way that's going to
(19:45):
potentially injure yourself.
You need to learn appropriatelifting techniques, and it's
okay to call 911 and have thefire department come help you
pick up your loved one becausethey're heavier, or if you want
to protect your back, or there'salso devices that you can have
in your home that can help youget people up easier.
(20:06):
But if they're falling more thanonce a month, we really need to
consider what is the root causeof that?
Is it clutter?
Is it lighting?
Is it the rugs?
Is it a cord?
What is it?
And any aging in placespecialist will be able to
assess that, as will physicaltherapists and occupational
therapists for you.
(20:27):
So reach out to your health careand wellness team so that they
can help you stay healthierlonger.
SPEAKER_00 (20:35):
You talked about making sure you have a book so
people know how you like yourcoffee, how you like your
cereal.
Tell me why that's important.
SPEAKER_01 (20:46):
It's important for many reasons.
One of the biggest problems thatwe have as we age is being
unable to communicate what wedesire.
If you get to a point where it'shard for you to swallow, people
are gonna start giving youthings like applesauce and
oatmeal.
What if you never liked applesor you never liked oatmeal?
And this is what they feed you,that's gonna make you absolutely
(21:08):
miserable.
Maybe you love yogurt, and maybeyou like blueberries, and
there's all sorts of things thatthey can do with the things that
you like.
They can only know what you likeif you tell them.
Well, how are you gonna tellthem if you can't speak?
The best way to tell them is tobe able to have something
written that says, give me this,don't give me that.
(21:29):
It's daunting to sit down andactually write this all at once.
So what I tell people to doinstead is pick a month, maybe
November because it's aroundThanksgiving, maybe February
because it's around love.
It doesn't matter.
Just pick a month and all duringthat month, carry around a
little notepad or carry aroundyour cell phone and use the note
(21:50):
app and say, I like this, Idon't like that.
Anytime it pops into your headthat month, you're just gonna
focus on the question.
What do I like?
What don't I like to eat?
How do I want to get taken careof?
What, you know, do I like a hotbath?
Do I like a warm bath?
Am I more on the cooler side?
How often do I wash my hair?
You know, do I like lotion?
(22:11):
Do I like makeup?
What is it that is important toyou?
So whatever's important to you,that's what you need to include
in this, these notes, this book.
And you can even do it on notecards and just keep a, you know,
do it and don't do it pile.
If you want to make it nice andneat and put it into like a
workbook, or if you did it incards, just have a stack of
(22:32):
cards.
I like this, I don't like that.
If you are consistent every timeyou think about it, write
something down.
Because the reality is you can'tsit there and think about
everything in your life.
I can't.
I don't expect anybody else to.
But as I live life, it is easyfor me to say, oh, I just they
just serve salmon and uh-uh, Idon't do any fish.
(22:52):
So I can write that down.
Or I love watermelon because wejust had it and I'll remember
and I'll write that down.
And so that's the best way to doit is to write it as you live
life, because all plans andblueprints are living, breathing
documents.
And so you have to add to them,you have to change your mind.
And if you have favoriterecipes, go ahead and put them
(23:14):
in there.
Whatever it is that you want,this is all about you so people
can know about you and yourdesires and your wishes when you
can't speak to them.
For some people, it may beactually a very fun thing to go
back and read when you're nolonger here, like, oh, grandma
didn't like apples.
I wonder why she didn't likeapples.
(23:35):
And you actually wrote a storyabout that.
And they'll be like, oh, that istoo funny of a story.
I would have never known thathad grandma not written it down.
So you can even, you know, havethings like that.
Like, for example, one day Ichoked on a hot dog.
I don't like hot dogs.
I used to like hot dogs, but Idon't like them anymore because
they almost took my life.
Speaking about caregivers, andeven you too, one of the things
(23:59):
that's as important is to telland know the stories.
So if you do you or your lovedone does end up in a assisted
living or a nursing facility ora rehab facility.
When that happens, if you'reable to tell the story about
grandma doesn't like applesbecause XYZ happens, or she
(24:22):
won't eat any hot dogs becauseshe choked on it, that makes
your loved one more human.
And the more stories you tellthe people who work there, the
better they're going to takecare of your loved one.
Because now they've they're ahuman with a past and a history
and a passion for life.
SPEAKER_00 (24:42):
Especially if they're in memory care, they're
not gonna remember what theylike or dislike.
SPEAKER_01 (24:49):
Right.
And the truth of the matter ishow many of us go and see our
parents or our grandparents, andwe're like, oh, we gotta go see
them again.
It's important to see them.
And I love spending time withthem, but they have nothing to
talk about.
Okay, they have nothing to talkabout because they don't do
anything like new and excitingnow, but ask them about their
(25:10):
past.
Ask them about a time inhistory, like, where were you
when 9-11 happened?
Or where were you in 1950, orwhat was the best vacation you
ever took?
Now you gave them something totalk about that's fun and
exciting.
So if you're bored when you govisit your grandparents or your
parents, that's on you.
There are so many excitingquestions and family stories
(25:33):
that you could discover.
You could even video them orcould write them down.
There's a lot of things that youcan do.
SPEAKER_00 (25:41):
Video is really good because you have their voice.
Something else I thought aboutwhen you were talking about
writing things down is whatabout your pets?
SPEAKER_01 (25:50):
How many of us write long, lengthy instructions on
how to take care of our pets?
Everything from where toexercise them, where they like
to eat, where they like tosleep, every single little
detail.
So why wouldn't you do that foryourself?
You can take care of yourselfnow.
But what happens if you havethat stroke or if you have that
fall and you can't communicate,then who's gonna know?
(26:14):
How are they supposed to takecare of you?
Everybody thinks it's not gonnahappen to me or I'm I'm still
young.
Okay, let's talk about that.
I was married to somebody whowas younger than I was, and at
22 years old, they discoveredthat he had a blood clotting
disorder.
And the next six years, heprogressively got worse.
(26:35):
At one point in time, because ofthe medication he was taking, he
got up out of bed, took twosteps, went down on all fours,
and it turns out that he broketwo vertebrae in the act of
getting up out of bed.
Now he was wheelchair bound, andI had to do everything for him.
He was 25 years old.
(26:55):
25.
So, you know, these medicalcrises, they do not discriminate
based on age.
If you ever wonder, oh, I'm tooyoung, no, look around you, look
at the obituaries.
There's people that are 40 yearsold that are dying.
You know, there are so manythings that we think, oh, we're
gonna be fine forever.
No, unfortunately, thingshappen.
(27:18):
And if we prepare for them,everybody's gonna be better off.
You're gonna be taken care ofbetter, and your loved ones are
gonna be better prepared forsome of the decisions that may
or may not need to be made.
unknown (27:30):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (27:30):
For example, having a DNR or do not resuscitate
order, it's a very personalthing, and a lot of people don't
want to think about that.
But but let's think about itfrom this other point of view.
I'm your child, you didn't havea DNR, and now I have to decide
what to do.
And that decision is somethingthat's gonna haunt me for the
(27:52):
rest of my life.
I thought you took care of me.
Didn't you love me as my as yourchild?
And didn't you do everything toprotect me?
Then why aren't you protectingme with this last act of love
and make your own decision whensomething happens?
What do you want to have done?
Don't put it on your children.
Right?
(28:12):
You have to love them.
It's an it's to me, it's thegreatest act of love to have a
DNR order.
SPEAKER_00 (28:18):
Yes, because if I had to make that decision, it
was my mom or my dad, I wouldsave them.
I would want to bring them back.
Yeah, Rebecca, and and I've beenthere.
SPEAKER_01 (28:30):
My father had a stroke on Easter Sunday.
They rushed him to the ER.
He arrived DOA with arespiratory arrest.
They resuscitated him.
He lived for five days.
Now, in between those five days,we had to make decisions.
Now, it happened to be inMexico, so we're acting as if we
(28:51):
were here in the U.S.
and we can make decisions aboutwell, if he's brain dead, well,
if he's gonna be vegetative, if,if, if.
And then we go to have aconversation with the medical
staff once we find out that heis brain dead, and they say, oh,
we don't do DNRs according tothe Mexican Constitution.
(29:11):
We're in violation if we don'tresuscitate him.
Luckily, he had a natural deathwithin five days of the stroke.
But it still was a horribleanxiety to make the decisions,
to have the conversations.
And what a relief it would havebeen if he had made that
(29:33):
decision for himself before.
Now, we couldn't make thedecision because it was just the
law, but here in the US, we canmake that decision.
So please make that decision foryou and your family members so
that they don't have to decidefor you and carry that burden
for the rest of their lives.
SPEAKER_00 (29:51):
Right.
And on the other note, you own ahouse, you're going to pass it
down to your children.
If there's nothing in place, yougo through probate.
So your children.
Don't have the money to doanything with your home, and
it's sitting there for 12, 18months.
There's no quick fix to that.
SPEAKER_01 (30:08):
Right.
Yes.
That's so important to have thedocuments in place.
Probate can take 20% of yourassets.
So a lot of people think aboutit's going to cost me$5,000,
$10,000 to go talk to thisattorney and get all these
documents in place.
The reality is most people havemore than that in equity, right?
In their homes and in differentaccounts and in their vehicles
(30:29):
and all their possessions.
And so taking$5,000 to$10,000and putting the right documents
in place, maybe even being ableto bypass probate completely is
huge.
So as an example, if you have apayable on death deed or
transfer on death deed for yourhouse and payable on death for
(30:53):
your accounts or a designatedsurvivor for your insurance
policies, those all bypassprobate.
But there's other ways to beable to do that as well.
And an attorney can help youwith that much better than I
can.
SPEAKER_00 (31:06):
Right.
It's what you do.
Once you turn 18, is even if youdon't own anything.
I want to change the subject alittle bit because you do
everything and you have arestaurant.
Tell me where that is and howyou got started.
SPEAKER_01 (31:22):
The restaurant is called Salerno Cusina Italiana,
and it is located in Cedar Park,Texas.
The way that it happened isbecause I'm passionate about
working with seniors andensuring that they're safe, I
became a real estate agent tohelp them be able to find the
right age and place home and tobe able to make that transition
(31:43):
from their big home to somethingthat's going to help them
transition as they age.
A lot of seniors have inheritedcommercial properties from their
family members who invested inreal estate after their
experiences with the GreatDepression.
In order to better be able tocounsel them, I learned a lot
(32:05):
about commercial real estate.
My brother introduced me tosomebody who wanted to have a
restaurant here, and we becamepartners and we purchased this
restaurant.
And I have been running it sinceabout the day after Mother's
Day.
And now we're doing some funthings like Salerno Seniors.
(32:25):
This is where I'm encouragingseniors to come in and be a part
of our community-basedrestaurant by doing No Senior
Eats Alone on Tuesdays.
And then on Thursdays, I'mencouraging them to come in and
learn and lunch with us.
So we're doing like a longevitylunch, we're learning about uh
different topics.
(32:46):
Usually the seminars onThursdays are limited to 15,
maximum 20 minutes, so that wecan have more conversations
about it because it's aboutadding to the community and
being a part of it.
And so that's one of the reasonswhy I'm really excited to have
uh the restaurant.
How is the participation inthose events?
So we're starting.
(33:08):
Okay, and uh we've had a smallgroup come to the No Senior to
Load today at 11:45 will be oneof our sessions.
And then the Thursdays are gonnabe beginning uh next week.
Okay, so they're on the babystage still.
They're in the baby stage, butit's growing, like it's grown
(33:29):
from a couple of people to fourto six people to a few more than
that.
So we're getting the word out.
Yeah, it's gonna be word ofmouth, right?
Yes, it it is.
It's one of those things thatneeds to get out to the
community.
SPEAKER_00 (33:43):
That's exciting.
So you're reaching seniors frommany different angles.
SPEAKER_01 (33:47):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (33:48):
That's great.
SPEAKER_01 (33:51):
I'm really looking forward to the Thursday seminars
because we're doing somethingdifferent each week.
So the first Thursday of themonth, we're gonna do first
things first because it's thebeginning of the month.
So we'll focus that conversationon things like what are the
first things you need to do toget your documents in place?
Another one will focus on whatare the first things about
(34:11):
health, or the first thingsabout increasing your social
support circle.
Because we know loneliness isthe biggest epidemic, and we can
fix that by having a largesocial support circle.
The second Thursday of themonth, we're going to have a
lunch with a local author, andthey'll talk about what drove
them to write the book and whytheir story and your story is
(34:35):
important.
Because as we've been talkingabout it, Rebecca, today, is
that we need to write ourstories and hand them down as a
legacy to our family members.
The third one will be Ask aHealth Professional.
We'll have all sorts ofdifferent health professionals
come join us and talk about whatthey do and how they serve
seniors, everything from homehealth to hospice, physical
(34:58):
therapy, a physician, and so on.
And then the last one will bethe longevity lunch, where we
will focus on the key thingsthat help you have a healthier,
longer life.
We're very excited about howthat's gonna shape up.
That is exciting.
During the longevity lunch, wewill talk about all sorts of
different topics that enhanceour life.
(35:20):
So, for example, one of thebiggest things that enhances our
longevity and has actually beenshown to be even the highest
predictor of our health outcomeis our social support network.
So if we have a strong socialsupport network, we're more
likely to live longer.
You've always heard the oldadage about birds of a feather
(35:40):
flock together.
And that is so important becauseif you surround yourself with
people who are healthy, who arephysically active, who are
mentally engaged, who have greatconversations and challenge each
other to be the healthiestpossible, then you're more
likely to have a longer healthspan.
(36:01):
But if you are around people whotend to self-isolate and you
don't communicate very much, ordon't have a very large group
that supports you, then you'remore likely to feel lonely and
get depressed as you get older.
And it is such an easy thing todo.
Rebecca, one of the things thatmakes it a challenge about the
(36:23):
whole aging-in-place concept isthat I know that 97% of people
want to age in the home they'rein right now.
Because it's the home wheretheir kids were brought up, uh,
the grandkids came to visit, andthere's so many memories in this
home.
It's these memories and thisidea of, well, this is where I
did life, and this is representsmy independence.
(36:46):
And to a certain extent, there'sa bit of a fear of the unknown.
If what if I move somewhereelse?
What if I downsize?
How will it be different?
Will I lose all these memories?
I want to tell people thosememories are in your mind,
they're in your heart.
You will have those forever.
You will take them with youwherever it is that you go.
(37:07):
What I'm concerned about withpeople who are really stuck on
aging in their home is that manytimes those homes are just not
conducive to supporting them asthey age.
A lot of people end up withinthe four walls of their home and
they stop driving because all ofa sudden they're a little bit
more concerned, or the traffichas become heavier, and they're
(37:30):
concerned about their driving,or uh they can't see as well,
and then they may or may notwant to go out as many times, or
they can't hear as well.
So then they're isolatingthemselves more and more.
As we start to withdraw out ofour social groups, which
unfortunately happens the olderwe get, then that less
(37:51):
engagement we have with otherpeople.
So if we move to a community, orwhether it's a 55-plus apartment
complex or a mixed apartmentcomplex, or move in with family,
or find one of these independentliving communities, one of the
benefits of those is being ableto walk out of the door and
(38:12):
there's somebody there to talkwith, to have great moments
with, whether it's playing agame or exercising together or
finding out about the latestfamily stories.
But these types of things helpkeep our minds sharp.
We really need to considerwhether our environment is
supporting our healthy aging orit's not.
(38:35):
Many times this idea of stayingin the family home, it's a great
fantasy.
The reality of it isn't all it'scut out to be.
I want people to really questionwhether that's what they want to
do.
One of my favorite uh ideas wasinstead of even living in a
community, I know of people whowill go on cruises for a whole
(38:59):
year.
Now, how amazing is that?
Do you get to live in adifferent city, go explore the
world, meet new people everysingle day?
I think it's phenomenal to beable to do something like that.
Now, that may be out of mostpeople's comfort zone, but
definitely expanding thepossibilities and the vision for
(39:20):
your future by being okay withletting go of the environment
that you have created foryourself to shed some of the
weight of your stuff, to freeyour time up from having to
clean and declutter, to beingable to go out and live life,
being able to be free to go outand see your friends, or, you
(39:44):
know, meet somebody for lunch orgo for a walk or a run if you're
still running.
I don't think I've ever ran, butyou know, whatever it is that
you do that brings you joy,spend more time doing that thing
that brings you joy.
Because those are the thingsthat feed the soul and really
make for a longer, happier, andhealthier life.
SPEAKER_00 (40:06):
Downsizing and just staying in the home is not
recommended.
And the other thing ismulti-generational living.
That's starting to happen.
So you have families together.
unknown (40:19):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (40:20):
Yes.
And depending on the culture,some are going to be more prone
to accepting thatmulti-generational living.
And in case in cases like theHispanics, that's expected.
Families are very close-knit andthey support and care for each
other.
And yes, it's not always easy tohave multiple generations living
in a home, but throughcommunication and adjusting
(40:45):
expectations and protecting someboundaries, you can have an
amazing time with multiplegenerations living in the same
home.
I I know in the US it's a littlebit harder because it seems like
families have spread out todifferent states.
So it is a little bit of achallenge because you have to
have that balance between theolder adult that has created
(41:07):
life for themselves in thecommunity in which they happen
to be in and all of their socialsupport circle that is there,
and then thinking about movingto that multi-generational home,
maybe in a different state, andwhat that would look like.
I think ultimately the biggestthing that you need to do is be
(41:27):
open to considering that theenvironment where you may be
isn't supporting your healthyaging, and it may be detrimental
to your health, and it may notsupport you as you get older.
For example, my mom lived withme in a multi-generational home
for several years.
(41:48):
But when it came down to herneeding a walker, the downstairs
bedroom and bathroom were notvery accessible because she
could not get her 18.5 inchwalker through the 18-inch
doorway.
SPEAKER_00 (42:01):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (42:02):
So that's a problem, right?
And had she needed a wheelchair,it wouldn't have worked at all.
So you really have to evaluatethings critically at some point
in time and say, well, I cantake some furniture and some
mementos with me to my new placethat will help it still feel
like a home.
(42:22):
But I can shed a lot of thestuff that has already served me
so well and be able to freemyself up to have an amazing few
years or decades.
SPEAKER_00 (42:34):
Right.
And even if you don't havechildren, if the
multi-generational living canwork with caregivers, anyone
who's going to take care of you,you have separate quarters.
So you still have yourindependence.
As a caregiver, I did that withmy mom.
Moved into a duplex.
She had her own space.
We had a hallway in between.
So I could cook dinners, I couldmake sure she was okay.
(42:56):
So there's a lot of options, andit doesn't have to be a child.
SPEAKER_01 (43:02):
Right.
And the truth is about 30% ofour older adults are solo agers.
And the concept of the goldengirls is actually a really cool
idea because you can get alarger home and each one have
your bedrooms and then you haveyour shared space where you have
(43:22):
a built-in community andsocialization.
If you work it right, if youhave the open communication and
some boundaries and rules aroundthings, so that you can increase
the compatibility of that group,then you can actually have a
really amazing time for a longtime, for a decade or more.
(43:43):
And it'd be conducive toincreasing the quality of your
life.
SPEAKER_00 (43:48):
Yeah, because you have someone that can cook,
someone that can drive, you havea mixture of everything to take
care of each other.
SPEAKER_01 (43:55):
Absolutely.
These are non-traditional thingsthat sometimes you just gotta
try it and see if it works.
In our case, it was morecircumstantial.
We were helping them through asituation in their life, but it
became one of the times in whichI have the fondest memories, and
she's like a sister to me now.
SPEAKER_00 (44:14):
I wanted to talk about reinventing yourself
because people retire, theydon't know what to do.
I actually reinvented myself atage 64, and I absolutely love
what I do.
What's your thoughts on that?
SPEAKER_01 (44:26):
Who said that at 65, you have to hang it up and
retire?
Maybe, maybe when it was decidedthat that seemed to be a
reasonable age, well, lifeexpectancy was not 75 or 90.
We worked at jobs that were moreindustrial and more taxing on
our bodies.
But now we're in a moreintellectually driven society
(44:50):
where we aren't working theminds and we're not all of us
working in construction anddoing things that really tax our
bodies.
There is no reason, in my mind,to retire at 65.
I define retirement as thatpoint in your life in which you
(45:10):
are financially secure for therest of your life, and then you
can choose to work, or you canchoose what to do with your
time.
I do see many older adultschoosing to be engaged in their
community, maybe local politicsor volunteering at their
schools.
And there are so many thingsthat people over the age of 65
(45:32):
could be doing.
And oh my gosh, the knowledgethat they have, the life that
they have lived gives them somany different perspectives that
they come up with some geniusideas.
Why would you want these peoplewith all this knowledge and
capacity to just suddenly stop?
(45:53):
Is just wildly beyond me.
I want people to go out and dosomething that they're
passionate about.
You know, maybe they worked at acertain job for a while because
that's how they made theirliving, but now they have
passion about what it is thatthey want to do for the rest of
(46:14):
their life.
You can write books, you canteach classes, you can do just
about anything that you want todo.
SPEAKER_00 (46:22):
Yeah, it's about retiring from the job you don't
like or you've done forever todoing something you truly love,
whether it's volunteering orworking and still making money.
It's it doesn't matter.
You just need to enjoy whatyou're doing, right?
SPEAKER_01 (46:37):
Absolutely.
And you know, one of the otherthings that some of our seniors
are doing, because now they haveall this time on their hands
because they've retired, is theystart exercising and they start
to become athletes in their 60sand 70s.
SPEAKER_00 (46:52):
I love that.
SPEAKER_01 (46:53):
And now you're seeing people who are breaking
records in their 90s on thingslike swimming and running and
biking and even triathlons.
We just had a woman, I can'tremember her name, who completed
a uh Iron Man, I believe at theage of 90.
Oh my goodness.
That's that's yeah, and sheYeah, she didn't start seriously
(47:15):
working out until she turned 65and retired.
And there's a gentleman, I wastalking to a group uh a couple
of weeks ago, and they weretelling me about a man who
specializes in training eliteathletes, but not just any elite
athletes.
These are all people over theage of 65 who suddenly
discovered that they love to dosome form of exercise, and
(47:39):
they've become elite athletes.
SPEAKER_00 (47:41):
You can do anything you set your mind to.
Absolutely you can.
You just have to have that planand decide, okay, it's time and
what you want to do.
A friend of mine told me hermom's 106.
Yeah.
So you're gonna retire at 65,live to 106, and have nothing to
(48:02):
do in between?
Exactly.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (48:06):
Exactly.
Well, why?
Why are we doing this?
And you know, when you thinkabout what happens in the
business side of it, where it'slike, okay, here's this person
who's worked 20 to 30 years inthis business.
They turned 65, so now theyretire, and all that corporate
knowledge just walks out thedoor.
(48:29):
We need to be thinking about atransition plan for our retirees
so that we can keep themengaged.
So once they hit 65, we dropthem down to what I call the
3010.
So that would be 30 hours a weekfor 10 months.
And their goal during those 30hours is to be mentors to the
(48:51):
newer generations, to puttogether the training workshops
so that people are able to getall of the knowledge that is
going to be gone once thisperson really truly leaves the
company.
So, this is the three years ofapprenticeship where they go 10
months, 30 hours a week, thenthey go nine months, 20 hours a
(49:13):
week, and then they stay on uh10 hours for nine months so that
they can be more of the thinktank on how do we move processes
and procedures forwards withinthis organization.
And I think if companies didsomething like that, they would
end up getting such a wealth ofinformation and such a new
(49:35):
enriched direction from theseolder adults who still have so
much more to give.
And, you know, we still seedoctors who are working in their
70s and even all the way to the80s.
SPEAKER_00 (49:47):
Yes, because they have the knowledge and they have
the experience.
I was an executive assistant forover 40 years.
And I was missing it.
And now I volunteer to helppeople with organizing and
spreadsheets because I enjoy it.
And you've got to keep thatgoing because you've done it so
(50:07):
long.
Why just throw it away and doabsolutely nothing with it?
SPEAKER_01 (50:12):
Exactly.
And you can take that knowledgethat you have and put together
best practices and teach them tothat next generation.
You can volunteer at your highschools to mentor some of these
students.
They're a bunch of students whohave nowhere to go after school,
who really could use somementoring and some guidance and
some skills that will benefitthem from the rest of their
(50:34):
lives.
The AmeriCorps has a seniorcore.
So if you're looking forvolunteer opportunities, that
may be a really good one.
The Small Business Associationhas a society core of retired
executives.
So if you have knowledge,Rebecca, like you do, you may
volunteer to help set upsomebody's books or help them
get organized in their office.
(50:55):
And those are really criticalthings that can make or break a
small business.
I think whatever it is thatyou're passionate about, you can
go out there and do it.
The only person stopping you isyou.
You're in the way of you livingyour best life.
At the end of the day, that'sthe biggest trick is get out of
(51:19):
your own way and just go do it.
I highly recommend that you notput any barriers in front of
yourself.
Pick a goal and then just go forit.
My dad used to say, you shouldalways shoot for the moon.
And the reason he would say youshould shoot for the moon,
(51:40):
because if you make it halfwaythere, you've already
accomplished more than anybodyelse around you when it comes to
that goal.
And then he would tell me, andremember, you're not in a
competition with the world,you're only in a competition
with yourself to make yourselfthe best self that you can be.
I love that.
SPEAKER_00 (51:58):
Yeah, that's great.
Encouragement.
Yes, exactly.
Dr.
Loyo, do you have any words ofencouragement or final words for
our audience?
SPEAKER_01 (52:11):
Absolutely.
Retirement is the best time ofyour life.
You can make it anything thatyou want it to be.
You can have every experiencethat you've ever dreamt of
having.
You just need to make a plan andset yourself up for being able
to have that amazing experience.
You want to take advantage ofyour independent years to do
(52:34):
that.
And while you do that and haveall the fun that you possibly
can, be sure to read thelongevity blueprint and create a
blueprint for yourself.
How do we take care of youshould anything happen?
Make sure that your assets areprotected so they will last you
a lifetime.
So one medical crisis does notbecome a generational financial
(52:55):
crisis.
Make all those difficultdecisions for you so that your
family doesn't have to makethose decisions.
Go out and live your best lifebecause you are the only one
that can be the most amazing youthat you are.
SPEAKER_00 (53:11):
Thank you very much.
I appreciate you joining metoday and for all your words of
wisdom and your heart for doingwhat you do.
SPEAKER_01 (53:20):
Thank you, Rebecca.
It has been wonderful talking toyou today.
And I am so glad that youreinvented yourself at 64
because you are going to be aliving, breathing inspiration
for the group of people that islistening and that is starting
to think about retirement andthinking it's all over.
(53:40):
It is not.
It is just beginning.
You have the reins and theability to take it anywhere you
want it to go.
I can't wait to see howsuccessful you are in the next
decade because I know you'regoing to be doing this for at
least that long, if not longer.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (53:58):
And thank you for that.
I want to thank my listeners forjoining Seniors Home Zone, where
we talk about life'stransitions.
Until the next time, take careof yourself and your home.
Welcome to Seniors Home Zone, where we talk about
life's transitions.
I'm Rebecca Finnegan, and todaywe're joined by Dr.
Karina Loyal, a gerontologist,author of Longevity Blueprint,
and owner of a restaurant.
Dr.
Loyal, thank you very much forjoining me today.
SPEAKER_01 (00:22):
Thank you, Rebecca, for having me.
I really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00 (00:25):
You're welcome.
I want you to start by tellingus how you fell in love with
what you do.
SPEAKER_01 (00:35):
I absolutely love spending time with my
grandparents.
Most people don't recognize theyare the people who are like the
living history museums, right?
They've been there, they've donethat.
I don't like to hear it out of abook and have to imagine it when
I have somebody who could tellme all about it and what they
lived.
And so I always had a hugerespect for my grandparents.
(00:58):
But what got me into thegerontology side of it was when
I was a senior in high school,about the last semester or last
month into it, my mother got acall from my grandfather and he
asked if we could move back toSan Marcos, Texas.
And my mom said, there is noway, because my dad had a job
with the Mexican governmentworking in the milk industry.
So we were kind of stuck inMexico as a family.
(01:21):
I was graduating, and so I said,Hey, why don't I go?
How hard can it be to help mygrandfather with my grandmother
who had Alzheimer's?
I ended up with my littlebrother growing up, so I thought
it was about the same thing.
And in a way, it was.
It was just a larger person, butthey could do a lot of things
independently as long as youdirected them.
(01:42):
The first few months were reallygreat, got to spend a lot of
quality time with them, went tothe university at the same time,
which was only a few blocksaway.
And it was all great until mygrandfather had a stroke three
months later.
I found him on the bathroomfloor, helped him up from there.
And I thought he had justfallen, but it turns out he
(02:02):
actually had a stroke.
And then after that, he waswheelchair-bound and had a
speech impediment.
Well, then I had two people Ihad to take care of, right?
And three days after that, Iturned 19.
So that was how I was throwninto this whole caregiving for
older folks.
And I just became reallypassionate about it because the
(02:23):
first people that I cared forwere so close to me.
I loved Mama Hank and Papa Koch.
That's what we called them.
We had so many great memories,and they had done so many great
things.
Like they lived in Laos,Vietnam, and Thailand for 12
years helping establishuniversities.
I got to hear all about what itwas like there during the war.
Living history.
(02:43):
And a lot of older folks, welook at them, we see them with
walkers and canes, and we neverthink, I wonder what they did
when they were a teenager.
I wonder what they livedthrough.
And that always fascinated me.
And so spending time with themto me is just a treasure.
Nobody can pay me for that muchtime.
SPEAKER_00 (03:02):
How did you learn to take care of someone with
Alzheimer's?
Because that's not something youjust pick up.
SPEAKER_01 (03:09):
Right, no.
And unfortunately, at 18, I wasjust kind of thrown into it.
And so I did a lot of trial byerror.
My grandmother actually happenedto be a very easy person.
So I would just tell her what todo, and she would usually do it.
Although there was a time when Iwould be like, okay, grandma,
(03:29):
I've got the water running inthe tub, it's the right
temperature.
I've got your clean clothes hereready for you to put away.
And, you know, you hear thewater running for about 15
minutes, then she'd turn it off,she'd come out, the back of her
hair was wet, but she wouldstill smell just like she did
before.
And it took me about three daysto figure out that she wasn't
taking a bath.
(03:50):
She was just dipping her handsin the water and putting wetting
the back of her hair.
I mean, how creative is that?
And it turns out she didn't wantto be cold in the water.
So, as we talked a little bitabout it, because people think
once you have Alzheimer's, youcan't talk with people, and
that's not true.
A lot of them are still veryconversant and very capable of
(04:10):
doing things, especially in theearly parts of it.
So we talked about what did shelike or not like about the bath,
and she didn't like having toget out of the bath because it
was so cold.
And so at that point in time, wemade arrangements for me to be
there to receive her with atowel dryer off as soon as
possible.
We also turned up thetemperature so it would be
warmer in that room whenever shetook a bath.
(04:32):
And that really helped.
SPEAKER_00 (04:33):
That's nice.
So tell me a little bit moreabout your grandfather and how
you had to help him.
SPEAKER_01 (04:39):
Wow.
Okay.
So he was six foot five andabout 320 pounds when this all
thing happened.
Oh my god.
No, luckily, I know.
Luckily, he still had enoughenergy to help himself get in
and out of that wheelchair.
Uh, but he just wasn't stableenough to walk.
He he'd like to roll himselfinto the kitchen and make his
(05:01):
own food.
And so I'd have to be there to,you know, supervise and help and
hand him the things that were onthe top shelf or get things that
were way too low because Ididn't want him flopping out of
the wheelchair.
Uh, he really tried to be asindependent as possible, but you
know, you have to make sure thatthey stay safe.
Right.
So I was there to help withthat.
And then one of the other thingsthat he absolutely loved was to
(05:24):
go on a ride.
And this was the probably themost challenging thing because
he would convince my grandmotherto grab the keys and take them
for a ride.
Well, you can imagine she's gotAlzheimer's, he's in a
wheelchair.
He would tell her what to do.
They'd put the wheelchair in theback of the car and they'd
(05:45):
leave.
And then we didn't know wherethey were.
We found out he had five sets ofcar keys.
Once we found them all, he wasno longer able to do that.
But it seemed like those carkeys just multiplied.
They would be gone for hours.
And they just drove around.
But driving around when you haveAlzheimer's and not really
knowing where you're going, evenif you're being directed by
(06:06):
somebody who knows where they'regoing, is still kind of a
challenge.
Eventually, we just madearrangements so that we would go
on car rides twice a week, andthey really look forward to
those.
They were fun because I got totalk to them about their past
and the different areas in whichwe would go visit.
He liked to go all sorts ofplaces and had stories to tell
(06:26):
for every single place wevisited.
SPEAKER_00 (06:28):
Oh, those stories are memories.
They are.
You then went to school tobecome a gerontologist.
And what was your goal for doingthat?
SPEAKER_01 (06:36):
Believe it or not, I studied theater arts first
because I was extremely shy andI would have never been able to
do this conversation before.
But it really helped me learnmore about public speaking.
And then my dad told me I had tolearn something useful, so I got
the MBA.
And then finally I did what Iwanted to do, and I got the PhD
(06:59):
in health promotion andgerontology because that's where
my passion was.
Most young people, I didn'texactly know everything that I
wanted to do, even though I wasswayed to that part of it and
always passionate about workingwith the older folks.
I did spend 16 years doingtherapeutic massage on older
folks and doing some home healthcare with them as well, in
(07:22):
addition to the four and a halfyears I spend with my
grandparents.
SPEAKER_00 (07:25):
Tell me about your book, Longevity Blueprint.
SPEAKER_01 (07:29):
So I read the longevity blueprint because one
of the things that I saw overand over again was there would
be one medical crisis and itwould turn into a financial
crisis initially for the couple.
And then eventually, as theadult children came into the
picture, it would trickle downinto financial burden for them
(07:49):
with the decisions that theymade.
And then I just saw that itbecame this generational
financial crisis.
And one of the things that Iexcel at is planning and
logistics and being able to lookat the whole system of things
and how everything impactseverything else.
I put all the knowledge that Ihave into that book to be able
(08:10):
to help people understand whatthat whole trajectory of aging
is going to be, what to expect,what they should be doing in
order to take advantage of someof the healthier periods in
life, how to respond to some ofthese crises so that they do not
become that generationalfinancial crisis.
I wrote the book in such a waythat I'm having conversations
(08:33):
with you as we read the book andgo along.
I am talking to you about, youknow, what your passions are.
What are you doing to remainsocially engaged?
What do you still want to dowith the rest of your life?
And how do we make sure that youget to the end of your life as
healthy as you possibly can?
(08:53):
That's what I'm trying to do.
SPEAKER_00 (08:55):
That's great.
Well, I'm a senior.
What am I going to take awayfrom this book?
SPEAKER_01 (09:00):
I think there's a whole lot of things that you can
take away.
Hopefully, inspire you to havethe best last decades of your
life possible to take controland know that it's never too
late to change your healthbecause it doesn't matter the
choices that you've made before.
Certainly it can be adisadvantage depending on what
you did, right?
(09:20):
If you didn't exercise, if youdidn't eat right, no, we can't
make you as healthier aspossible.
Okay.
So for seniors, I think there isa whole lot of information in
it.
For example, how do you havethat best last decades possible?
How do you improve your qualityof life so that you can
definitely have the best outcomewith your life as possible?
(09:42):
Because we all want to remainindependent, right?
Then there's other things likeputting together your healthcare
team and your wellness team.
They're not the same thing.
Healthcare is for when you havea health issue.
Wellness is to keep you well andhealthy for the rest of your
life.
Also, an asset protection team,because we want to make sure
that your assets are protectedand that they last you for the
(10:04):
rest of your life.
And the documents that need tobe in place.
Not the documents that you needas you age, but the documents we
should all have had put intoplace when we were 18 and above.
So, what do we need to make surethat all that is in place?
How do I communicate with mychildren what it is that I want
and what my desires are ifsomething happens to me?
(10:24):
So, for example, if I have astroke like my grandfather did
and I can't communicate, now hecould talk a little bit and I
could understand.
Most people couldn't, but dothey know whether you like
oatmeal or not?
And are they gonna think you'rerude because you push it away
and refuse to eat?
Well, if you've never liked it,why would you start liking it
now?
Or how do you like your coffee?
(10:45):
And things like the five-yearMedicaid clawback so that you
know that you have to plan aheadin order to protect your assets
so that you and your spouse areable to keep them and you don't
become that financial burden toyour family members.
And then there's a whole lot oflifestyle strategies so that you
can improve your health andreally have the best life
(11:07):
possible.
SPEAKER_00 (11:07):
Those are just some of the things that you'll learn.
Oh, that's a lot of information.
When you're 18, people usuallydon't think of a wheel until
they're older.
Why 18?
SPEAKER_01 (11:19):
Well, at the age of 18, your doctors will no longer
talk to anybody else becauseyou're an adult.
So if you have a child going offto college and they're 18, do
you really want to have yourhands tied if they're in a car
wreck, for example?
Not that I'm wishing that onanybody, but things happen.
And if we're not able to helpbecause we don't have a medical
(11:40):
power of attorney or we don'thave a dual durable power of
attorney, then it really doestie our hands.
And the other thing people don'tusually include, which they need
to, is a hip authorization form,which is the one that allows the
doctors to be able to show youall the medical records in order
for you to execute yourdecisions as a medical power of
(12:01):
attorney.
So all of these are reallyimportant things.
And that key date is your 18thbirthday.
These are not things that youhave to wait until you're 65
plus.
These are things that we shouldhave been having all along, and
then we should have beenupdating them.
But the reality is that lessthan 50% of all people in the
United States have thesedocuments in place.
(12:22):
And most people think that, oh,I don't have very much, I don't
own very much, it's all gonna beokay.
If you don't make some of thesechoices, when it comes to wills
and trust, Medicaid could take awhole lot out of your retirement
and not have any funds left overfor your surviving spouse.
And that's just terrible becausethey were beside you their whole
(12:44):
life, making sure that you werewell taken care of.
Don't you want to make surethey're well taken care of?
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (12:51):
Yes.
Yeah.
As a caregiver, tell me how thisbook will help me.
SPEAKER_01 (12:56):
As a caregiver, it'll help you personally as you
prepare to age, but to be ableto support your aging loved one
and have the conversations thatneed to be had and understand
the different stages that happenin aging, and then how quickly
that medical crisis can throwthem from being completely
independent to needing to becompletely dependent on someone,
(13:18):
and then maybe bouncing back tosemi-independence or ending up
in an end-of-life type ofsituation.
So there are a couple ofchapters that will teach you all
about what to expect as peopleage.
And then there's a chapter allabout communicating with your
loved one.
You can read that with theframework of what I'm suggesting
(13:41):
they put into place and how theyshould talk to you, and then you
will be more open and receptiveto them when that conversation
happens.
There's also some chapters onaging in place and what that
aging in place means.
Being able to know is my mom ordad safe in the home they're in,
or do I need to help them lookfor someplace else to live, or
(14:05):
encourage them to think about,you know, their safety and their
lifestyle in the current homeand how that may be different,
then I think that's really, youknow, some important things that
you will learn from that.
SPEAKER_00 (14:16):
And I know you're a certified aging and play
specialist as well as I am.
So that allows us to go into ahome to make suggestions for
remodeling.
Correct.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (14:30):
Yes, and it also helps us be able to identify a
new home that you may bethinking about moving into and
being able to assess it to makesure that it is something that's
going to be able to grow withyour aging needs.
And I think that's reallyimportant because we have this
idea that we're always going tobe as healthy as we are today.
People have slips and falls.
(14:51):
One in four adults over the ageof 65 will have a slip and fall.
Of those, a third of them willneed to be seek some kind of
medical attention.
And a third of the ones that endup with needs for medical
attention will end up in ahospital, and a third of those
will die within 30 days.
So there's a lot of things thatcome into place when thinking
(15:14):
about is my home safe enough forme now?
And will it provide for me inthe next two to three decades if
that's what I'm looking at?
SPEAKER_00 (15:23):
As far as aging in place, we want to look at
safety.
What things do you recommendthat we do to keep our seniors
safe?
SPEAKER_01 (15:33):
The biggest thing is the fall prevention because it
can be prevented.
And it's all about learning somenew habits.
And I say habits because, forexample, one of the things that
happens as we get older is wetend to sit longer.
And the longer we sit, the morethe blood pools in our legs.
So then when we go to stand up,some people will get that dizzy
(15:53):
feeling.
And it can happen in your 40sand 50s.
So it's not something that'sabout the magic age of 65 and
above, right?
And so what I tell people is ifyou sit for a long time, you
want to move your legs up anddown before you get up.
Or the other thing you can do isyou can stand up, sit down,
stand up, sit down, stand up,sit down.
(16:14):
I call those micro exercises.
And so with the sitting andstanding, the great part about
that is if you get into thehabit of sitting back down three
times every time that you getup, you're gonna do two things.
The first thing is you're gonnabe in a very safe place should
you feel that blackout dizzyfeeling.
So you're not gonna fall andyou're just gonna end up back in
(16:36):
that chair because you just satdown back in it.
So that's the first thing that'sreally good.
And then the second part aboutit that I think is even more
amazing is this whole concept ofmicro exercise.
And micro exercise meansintegrating additional strength
training exercises into everydaylife.
Think about how many times doyou stand up in a day?
(16:58):
If I tell you, Rebecca, I wouldlike for you to do 50 squats
today, you're gonna look at meand say, you're insane.
But if I tell you, I want you todo three squats onto your chair,
because that's essentially whatyou're doing, up and down, three
times every time you stand up.
If you stand up 20 times, whichis a small amount, you're gonna
(17:23):
do 60 of them.
And most people are gonna get upmore than 20 times.
And so if you do it every time,you're gonna get a lot of
exercise.
And one of the things thatpeople don't realize is that
there's a whole body ofliterature about the strength of
your legs being a predictor ofyour longevity and your health
(17:43):
span.
And health span is what we want.
We don't want to live a longlife stuck in bed or in a
wheelchair.
We want to live a long lifewhere we can run circles around
everybody else and still be ableto squat down and hug our
grandchild, right?
So these are the things thathelp us do that is these micro
exercises.
(18:04):
And so I challenge everybody todo that because the other thing
is, like I said, it's gonna stopyou from falling because you got
dizzy.
Because one of the things aboutthat stand-up dizziness fall is
that most people will stand upand they won't fall right away.
It's like three to five stepsaway.
And at that point in time,you're not next to anything that
(18:24):
you can hold on to and it comeson really suddenly.
So by moving your legs up anddown or doing those squats,
you're going to prevent thatfrom happening.
And that will help you avoid somany falls.
That is great advice.
SPEAKER_00 (18:40):
Thank you very much for that.
SPEAKER_01 (18:42):
Yeah, well, you know, after I had a friend who
is a uh title officer have afall after standing up from her
dining room table and felt thatblackout, and she ended up
breaking her ankle and ended upwith a black eye and a scraped
arm.
I'm like, I'm on a mission nowto make sure everybody over the
(19:05):
age of 40 thinks about movingbefore moving when they get up
out of chair if they've beensitting more than 20 minutes.
SPEAKER_00 (19:12):
Because that is to someone who gets older that's
gonna do that.
That's pretty much for everyone.
SPEAKER_01 (19:17):
It is.
It's something for everybody,yes.
Caregivers too.
unknown (19:22):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (19:22):
And then one more thing on the caregivers is no
matter what, you want toconsider your spine.
So if somebody falls that you'recaregiving, you don't want to
try to catch them with a waythat's gonna compromise your
lower back because you don'twant to get injured.
And you don't want to pick themup in a way that's going to
(19:45):
potentially injure yourself.
You need to learn appropriatelifting techniques, and it's
okay to call 911 and have thefire department come help you
pick up your loved one becausethey're heavier, or if you want
to protect your back, or there'salso devices that you can have
in your home that can help youget people up easier.
(20:06):
But if they're falling more thanonce a month, we really need to
consider what is the root causeof that?
Is it clutter?
Is it lighting?
Is it the rugs?
Is it a cord?
What is it?
And any aging in placespecialist will be able to
assess that, as will physicaltherapists and occupational
therapists for you.
(20:27):
So reach out to your health careand wellness team so that they
can help you stay healthierlonger.
SPEAKER_00 (20:35):
You talked about making sure you have a book so
people know how you like yourcoffee, how you like your
cereal.
Tell me why that's important.
SPEAKER_01 (20:46):
It's important for many reasons.
One of the biggest problems thatwe have as we age is being
unable to communicate what wedesire.
If you get to a point where it'shard for you to swallow, people
are gonna start giving youthings like applesauce and
oatmeal.
What if you never liked applesor you never liked oatmeal?
And this is what they feed you,that's gonna make you absolutely
(21:08):
miserable.
Maybe you love yogurt, and maybeyou like blueberries, and
there's all sorts of things thatthey can do with the things that
you like.
They can only know what you likeif you tell them.
Well, how are you gonna tellthem if you can't speak?
The best way to tell them is tobe able to have something
written that says, give me this,don't give me that.
(21:29):
It's daunting to sit down andactually write this all at once.
So what I tell people to doinstead is pick a month, maybe
November because it's aroundThanksgiving, maybe February
because it's around love.
It doesn't matter.
Just pick a month and all duringthat month, carry around a
little notepad or carry aroundyour cell phone and use the note
(21:50):
app and say, I like this, Idon't like that.
Anytime it pops into your headthat month, you're just gonna
focus on the question.
What do I like?
What don't I like to eat?
How do I want to get taken careof?
What, you know, do I like a hotbath?
Do I like a warm bath?
Am I more on the cooler side?
How often do I wash my hair?
You know, do I like lotion?
(22:11):
Do I like makeup?
What is it that is important toyou?
So whatever's important to you,that's what you need to include
in this, these notes, this book.
And you can even do it on notecards and just keep a, you know,
do it and don't do it pile.
If you want to make it nice andneat and put it into like a
workbook, or if you did it incards, just have a stack of
(22:32):
cards.
I like this, I don't like that.
If you are consistent every timeyou think about it, write
something down.
Because the reality is you can'tsit there and think about
everything in your life.
I can't.
I don't expect anybody else to.
But as I live life, it is easyfor me to say, oh, I just they
just serve salmon and uh-uh, Idon't do any fish.
(22:52):
So I can write that down.
Or I love watermelon because wejust had it and I'll remember
and I'll write that down.
And so that's the best way to doit is to write it as you live
life, because all plans andblueprints are living, breathing
documents.
And so you have to add to them,you have to change your mind.
And if you have favoriterecipes, go ahead and put them
(23:14):
in there.
Whatever it is that you want,this is all about you so people
can know about you and yourdesires and your wishes when you
can't speak to them.
For some people, it may beactually a very fun thing to go
back and read when you're nolonger here, like, oh, grandma
didn't like apples.
I wonder why she didn't likeapples.
(23:35):
And you actually wrote a storyabout that.
And they'll be like, oh, that istoo funny of a story.
I would have never known thathad grandma not written it down.
So you can even, you know, havethings like that.
Like, for example, one day Ichoked on a hot dog.
I don't like hot dogs.
I used to like hot dogs, but Idon't like them anymore because
they almost took my life.
Speaking about caregivers, andeven you too, one of the things
(23:59):
that's as important is to telland know the stories.
So if you do you or your lovedone does end up in a assisted
living or a nursing facility ora rehab facility.
When that happens, if you'reable to tell the story about
grandma doesn't like applesbecause XYZ happens, or she
(24:22):
won't eat any hot dogs becauseshe choked on it, that makes
your loved one more human.
And the more stories you tellthe people who work there, the
better they're going to takecare of your loved one.
Because now they've they're ahuman with a past and a history
and a passion for life.
SPEAKER_00 (24:42):
Especially if they're in memory care, they're
not gonna remember what theylike or dislike.
SPEAKER_01 (24:49):
Right.
And the truth of the matter ishow many of us go and see our
parents or our grandparents, andwe're like, oh, we gotta go see
them again.
It's important to see them.
And I love spending time withthem, but they have nothing to
talk about.
Okay, they have nothing to talkabout because they don't do
anything like new and excitingnow, but ask them about their
(25:10):
past.
Ask them about a time inhistory, like, where were you
when 9-11 happened?
Or where were you in 1950, orwhat was the best vacation you
ever took?
Now you gave them something totalk about that's fun and
exciting.
So if you're bored when you govisit your grandparents or your
parents, that's on you.
There are so many excitingquestions and family stories
(25:33):
that you could discover.
You could even video them orcould write them down.
There's a lot of things that youcan do.
SPEAKER_00 (25:41):
Video is really good because you have their voice.
Something else I thought aboutwhen you were talking about
writing things down is whatabout your pets?
SPEAKER_01 (25:50):
How many of us write long, lengthy instructions on
how to take care of our pets?
Everything from where toexercise them, where they like
to eat, where they like tosleep, every single little
detail.
So why wouldn't you do that foryourself?
You can take care of yourselfnow.
But what happens if you havethat stroke or if you have that
fall and you can't communicate,then who's gonna know?
(26:14):
How are they supposed to takecare of you?
Everybody thinks it's not gonnahappen to me or I'm I'm still
young.
Okay, let's talk about that.
I was married to somebody whowas younger than I was, and at
22 years old, they discoveredthat he had a blood clotting
disorder.
And the next six years, heprogressively got worse.
(26:35):
At one point in time, because ofthe medication he was taking, he
got up out of bed, took twosteps, went down on all fours,
and it turns out that he broketwo vertebrae in the act of
getting up out of bed.
Now he was wheelchair bound, andI had to do everything for him.
He was 25 years old.
(26:55):
25.
So, you know, these medicalcrises, they do not discriminate
based on age.
If you ever wonder, oh, I'm tooyoung, no, look around you, look
at the obituaries.
There's people that are 40 yearsold that are dying.
You know, there are so manythings that we think, oh, we're
gonna be fine forever.
No, unfortunately, thingshappen.
(27:18):
And if we prepare for them,everybody's gonna be better off.
You're gonna be taken care ofbetter, and your loved ones are
gonna be better prepared forsome of the decisions that may
or may not need to be made.
unknown (27:30):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (27:30):
For example, having a DNR or do not resuscitate
order, it's a very personalthing, and a lot of people don't
want to think about that.
But but let's think about itfrom this other point of view.
I'm your child, you didn't havea DNR, and now I have to decide
what to do.
And that decision is somethingthat's gonna haunt me for the
(27:52):
rest of my life.
I thought you took care of me.
Didn't you love me as my as yourchild?
And didn't you do everything toprotect me?
Then why aren't you protectingme with this last act of love
and make your own decision whensomething happens?
What do you want to have done?
Don't put it on your children.
Right?
(28:12):
You have to love them.
It's an it's to me, it's thegreatest act of love to have a
DNR order.
SPEAKER_00 (28:18):
Yes, because if I had to make that decision, it
was my mom or my dad, I wouldsave them.
I would want to bring them back.
Yeah, Rebecca, and and I've beenthere.
SPEAKER_01 (28:30):
My father had a stroke on Easter Sunday.
They rushed him to the ER.
He arrived DOA with arespiratory arrest.
They resuscitated him.
He lived for five days.
Now, in between those five days,we had to make decisions.
Now, it happened to be inMexico, so we're acting as if we
(28:51):
were here in the U.S.
and we can make decisions aboutwell, if he's brain dead, well,
if he's gonna be vegetative, if,if, if.
And then we go to have aconversation with the medical
staff once we find out that heis brain dead, and they say, oh,
we don't do DNRs according tothe Mexican Constitution.
(29:11):
We're in violation if we don'tresuscitate him.
Luckily, he had a natural deathwithin five days of the stroke.
But it still was a horribleanxiety to make the decisions,
to have the conversations.
And what a relief it would havebeen if he had made that
(29:33):
decision for himself before.
Now, we couldn't make thedecision because it was just the
law, but here in the US, we canmake that decision.
So please make that decision foryou and your family members so
that they don't have to decidefor you and carry that burden
for the rest of their lives.
SPEAKER_00 (29:51):
Right.
And on the other note, you own ahouse, you're going to pass it
down to your children.
If there's nothing in place, yougo through probate.
So your children.
Don't have the money to doanything with your home, and
it's sitting there for 12, 18months.
There's no quick fix to that.
SPEAKER_01 (30:08):
Right.
Yes.
That's so important to have thedocuments in place.
Probate can take 20% of yourassets.
So a lot of people think aboutit's going to cost me$5,000,
$10,000 to go talk to thisattorney and get all these
documents in place.
The reality is most people havemore than that in equity, right?
In their homes and in differentaccounts and in their vehicles
(30:29):
and all their possessions.
And so taking$5,000 to$10,000and putting the right documents
in place, maybe even being ableto bypass probate completely is
huge.
So as an example, if you have apayable on death deed or
transfer on death deed for yourhouse and payable on death for
(30:53):
your accounts or a designatedsurvivor for your insurance
policies, those all bypassprobate.
But there's other ways to beable to do that as well.
And an attorney can help youwith that much better than I
can.
SPEAKER_00 (31:06):
Right.
It's what you do.
Once you turn 18, is even if youdon't own anything.
I want to change the subject alittle bit because you do
everything and you have arestaurant.
Tell me where that is and howyou got started.
SPEAKER_01 (31:22):
The restaurant is called Salerno Cusina Italiana,
and it is located in Cedar Park,Texas.
The way that it happened isbecause I'm passionate about
working with seniors andensuring that they're safe, I
became a real estate agent tohelp them be able to find the
right age and place home and tobe able to make that transition
(31:43):
from their big home to somethingthat's going to help them
transition as they age.
A lot of seniors have inheritedcommercial properties from their
family members who invested inreal estate after their
experiences with the GreatDepression.
In order to better be able tocounsel them, I learned a lot
(32:05):
about commercial real estate.
My brother introduced me tosomebody who wanted to have a
restaurant here, and we becamepartners and we purchased this
restaurant.
And I have been running it sinceabout the day after Mother's
Day.
And now we're doing some funthings like Salerno Seniors.
(32:25):
This is where I'm encouragingseniors to come in and be a part
of our community-basedrestaurant by doing No Senior
Eats Alone on Tuesdays.
And then on Thursdays, I'mencouraging them to come in and
learn and lunch with us.
So we're doing like a longevitylunch, we're learning about uh
different topics.
(32:46):
Usually the seminars onThursdays are limited to 15,
maximum 20 minutes, so that wecan have more conversations
about it because it's aboutadding to the community and
being a part of it.
And so that's one of the reasonswhy I'm really excited to have
uh the restaurant.
How is the participation inthose events?
So we're starting.
(33:08):
Okay, and uh we've had a smallgroup come to the No Senior to
Load today at 11:45 will be oneof our sessions.
And then the Thursdays are gonnabe beginning uh next week.
Okay, so they're on the babystage still.
They're in the baby stage, butit's growing, like it's grown
(33:29):
from a couple of people to fourto six people to a few more than
that.
So we're getting the word out.
Yeah, it's gonna be word ofmouth, right?
Yes, it it is.
It's one of those things thatneeds to get out to the
community.
SPEAKER_00 (33:43):
That's exciting.
So you're reaching seniors frommany different angles.
SPEAKER_01 (33:47):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (33:48):
That's great.
SPEAKER_01 (33:51):
I'm really looking forward to the Thursday seminars
because we're doing somethingdifferent each week.
So the first Thursday of themonth, we're gonna do first
things first because it's thebeginning of the month.
So we'll focus that conversationon things like what are the
first things you need to do toget your documents in place?
Another one will focus on whatare the first things about
(34:11):
health, or the first thingsabout increasing your social
support circle.
Because we know loneliness isthe biggest epidemic, and we can
fix that by having a largesocial support circle.
The second Thursday of themonth, we're going to have a
lunch with a local author, andthey'll talk about what drove
them to write the book and whytheir story and your story is
(34:35):
important.
Because as we've been talkingabout it, Rebecca, today, is
that we need to write ourstories and hand them down as a
legacy to our family members.
The third one will be Ask aHealth Professional.
We'll have all sorts ofdifferent health professionals
come join us and talk about whatthey do and how they serve
seniors, everything from homehealth to hospice, physical
(34:58):
therapy, a physician, and so on.
And then the last one will bethe longevity lunch, where we
will focus on the key thingsthat help you have a healthier,
longer life.
We're very excited about howthat's gonna shape up.
That is exciting.
During the longevity lunch, wewill talk about all sorts of
different topics that enhanceour life.
(35:20):
So, for example, one of thebiggest things that enhances our
longevity and has actually beenshown to be even the highest
predictor of our health outcomeis our social support network.
So if we have a strong socialsupport network, we're more
likely to live longer.
You've always heard the oldadage about birds of a feather
(35:40):
flock together.
And that is so important becauseif you surround yourself with
people who are healthy, who arephysically active, who are
mentally engaged, who have greatconversations and challenge each
other to be the healthiestpossible, then you're more
likely to have a longer healthspan.
(36:01):
But if you are around people whotend to self-isolate and you
don't communicate very much, ordon't have a very large group
that supports you, then you'remore likely to feel lonely and
get depressed as you get older.
And it is such an easy thing todo.
Rebecca, one of the things thatmakes it a challenge about the
(36:23):
whole aging-in-place concept isthat I know that 97% of people
want to age in the home they'rein right now.
Because it's the home wheretheir kids were brought up, uh,
the grandkids came to visit, andthere's so many memories in this
home.
It's these memories and thisidea of, well, this is where I
did life, and this is representsmy independence.
(36:46):
And to a certain extent, there'sa bit of a fear of the unknown.
If what if I move somewhereelse?
What if I downsize?
How will it be different?
Will I lose all these memories?
I want to tell people thosememories are in your mind,
they're in your heart.
You will have those forever.
You will take them with youwherever it is that you go.
(37:07):
What I'm concerned about withpeople who are really stuck on
aging in their home is that manytimes those homes are just not
conducive to supporting them asthey age.
A lot of people end up withinthe four walls of their home and
they stop driving because all ofa sudden they're a little bit
more concerned, or the traffichas become heavier, and they're
(37:30):
concerned about their driving,or uh they can't see as well,
and then they may or may notwant to go out as many times, or
they can't hear as well.
So then they're isolatingthemselves more and more.
As we start to withdraw out ofour social groups, which
unfortunately happens the olderwe get, then that less
(37:51):
engagement we have with otherpeople.
So if we move to a community, orwhether it's a 55-plus apartment
complex or a mixed apartmentcomplex, or move in with family,
or find one of these independentliving communities, one of the
benefits of those is being ableto walk out of the door and
(38:12):
there's somebody there to talkwith, to have great moments
with, whether it's playing agame or exercising together or
finding out about the latestfamily stories.
But these types of things helpkeep our minds sharp.
We really need to considerwhether our environment is
supporting our healthy aging orit's not.
(38:35):
Many times this idea of stayingin the family home, it's a great
fantasy.
The reality of it isn't all it'scut out to be.
I want people to really questionwhether that's what they want to
do.
One of my favorite uh ideas wasinstead of even living in a
community, I know of people whowill go on cruises for a whole
(38:59):
year.
Now, how amazing is that?
Do you get to live in adifferent city, go explore the
world, meet new people everysingle day?
I think it's phenomenal to beable to do something like that.
Now, that may be out of mostpeople's comfort zone, but
definitely expanding thepossibilities and the vision for
(39:20):
your future by being okay withletting go of the environment
that you have created foryourself to shed some of the
weight of your stuff, to freeyour time up from having to
clean and declutter, to beingable to go out and live life,
being able to be free to go outand see your friends, or, you
(39:44):
know, meet somebody for lunch orgo for a walk or a run if you're
still running.
I don't think I've ever ran, butyou know, whatever it is that
you do that brings you joy,spend more time doing that thing
that brings you joy.
Because those are the thingsthat feed the soul and really
make for a longer, happier, andhealthier life.
SPEAKER_00 (40:06):
Downsizing and just staying in the home is not
recommended.
And the other thing ismulti-generational living.
That's starting to happen.
So you have families together.
unknown (40:19):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (40:20):
Yes.
And depending on the culture,some are going to be more prone
to accepting thatmulti-generational living.
And in case in cases like theHispanics, that's expected.
Families are very close-knit andthey support and care for each
other.
And yes, it's not always easy tohave multiple generations living
in a home, but throughcommunication and adjusting
(40:45):
expectations and protecting someboundaries, you can have an
amazing time with multiplegenerations living in the same
home.
I I know in the US it's a littlebit harder because it seems like
families have spread out todifferent states.
So it is a little bit of achallenge because you have to
have that balance between theolder adult that has created
(41:07):
life for themselves in thecommunity in which they happen
to be in and all of their socialsupport circle that is there,
and then thinking about movingto that multi-generational home,
maybe in a different state, andwhat that would look like.
I think ultimately the biggestthing that you need to do is be
(41:27):
open to considering that theenvironment where you may be
isn't supporting your healthyaging, and it may be detrimental
to your health, and it may notsupport you as you get older.
For example, my mom lived withme in a multi-generational home
for several years.
(41:48):
But when it came down to herneeding a walker, the downstairs
bedroom and bathroom were notvery accessible because she
could not get her 18.5 inchwalker through the 18-inch
doorway.
SPEAKER_00 (42:01):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (42:02):
So that's a problem, right?
And had she needed a wheelchair,it wouldn't have worked at all.
So you really have to evaluatethings critically at some point
in time and say, well, I cantake some furniture and some
mementos with me to my new placethat will help it still feel
like a home.
(42:22):
But I can shed a lot of thestuff that has already served me
so well and be able to freemyself up to have an amazing few
years or decades.
SPEAKER_00 (42:34):
Right.
And even if you don't havechildren, if the
multi-generational living canwork with caregivers, anyone
who's going to take care of you,you have separate quarters.
So you still have yourindependence.
As a caregiver, I did that withmy mom.
Moved into a duplex.
She had her own space.
We had a hallway in between.
So I could cook dinners, I couldmake sure she was okay.
(42:56):
So there's a lot of options, andit doesn't have to be a child.
SPEAKER_01 (43:02):
Right.
And the truth is about 30% ofour older adults are solo agers.
And the concept of the goldengirls is actually a really cool
idea because you can get alarger home and each one have
your bedrooms and then you haveyour shared space where you have
(43:22):
a built-in community andsocialization.
If you work it right, if youhave the open communication and
some boundaries and rules aroundthings, so that you can increase
the compatibility of that group,then you can actually have a
really amazing time for a longtime, for a decade or more.
(43:43):
And it'd be conducive toincreasing the quality of your
life.
SPEAKER_00 (43:48):
Yeah, because you have someone that can cook,
someone that can drive, you havea mixture of everything to take
care of each other.
SPEAKER_01 (43:55):
Absolutely.
These are non-traditional thingsthat sometimes you just gotta
try it and see if it works.
In our case, it was morecircumstantial.
We were helping them through asituation in their life, but it
became one of the times in whichI have the fondest memories, and
she's like a sister to me now.
SPEAKER_00 (44:14):
I wanted to talk about reinventing yourself
because people retire, theydon't know what to do.
I actually reinvented myself atage 64, and I absolutely love
what I do.
What's your thoughts on that?
SPEAKER_01 (44:26):
Who said that at 65, you have to hang it up and
retire?
Maybe, maybe when it was decidedthat that seemed to be a
reasonable age, well, lifeexpectancy was not 75 or 90.
We worked at jobs that were moreindustrial and more taxing on
our bodies.
But now we're in a moreintellectually driven society
(44:50):
where we aren't working theminds and we're not all of us
working in construction anddoing things that really tax our
bodies.
There is no reason, in my mind,to retire at 65.
I define retirement as thatpoint in your life in which you
(45:10):
are financially secure for therest of your life, and then you
can choose to work, or you canchoose what to do with your
time.
I do see many older adultschoosing to be engaged in their
community, maybe local politicsor volunteering at their
schools.
And there are so many thingsthat people over the age of 65
(45:32):
could be doing.
And oh my gosh, the knowledgethat they have, the life that
they have lived gives them somany different perspectives that
they come up with some geniusideas.
Why would you want these peoplewith all this knowledge and
capacity to just suddenly stop?
(45:53):
Is just wildly beyond me.
I want people to go out and dosomething that they're
passionate about.
You know, maybe they worked at acertain job for a while because
that's how they made theirliving, but now they have
passion about what it is thatthey want to do for the rest of
(46:14):
their life.
You can write books, you canteach classes, you can do just
about anything that you want todo.
SPEAKER_00 (46:22):
Yeah, it's about retiring from the job you don't
like or you've done forever todoing something you truly love,
whether it's volunteering orworking and still making money.
It's it doesn't matter.
You just need to enjoy whatyou're doing, right?
SPEAKER_01 (46:37):
Absolutely.
And you know, one of the otherthings that some of our seniors
are doing, because now they haveall this time on their hands
because they've retired, is theystart exercising and they start
to become athletes in their 60sand 70s.
SPEAKER_00 (46:52):
I love that.
SPEAKER_01 (46:53):
And now you're seeing people who are breaking
records in their 90s on thingslike swimming and running and
biking and even triathlons.
We just had a woman, I can'tremember her name, who completed
a uh Iron Man, I believe at theage of 90.
Oh my goodness.
That's that's yeah, and sheYeah, she didn't start seriously
(47:15):
working out until she turned 65and retired.
And there's a gentleman, I wastalking to a group uh a couple
of weeks ago, and they weretelling me about a man who
specializes in training eliteathletes, but not just any elite
athletes.
These are all people over theage of 65 who suddenly
discovered that they love to dosome form of exercise, and
(47:39):
they've become elite athletes.
SPEAKER_00 (47:41):
You can do anything you set your mind to.
Absolutely you can.
You just have to have that planand decide, okay, it's time and
what you want to do.
A friend of mine told me hermom's 106.
Yeah.
So you're gonna retire at 65,live to 106, and have nothing to
(48:02):
do in between?
Exactly.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (48:06):
Exactly.
Well, why?
Why are we doing this?
And you know, when you thinkabout what happens in the
business side of it, where it'slike, okay, here's this person
who's worked 20 to 30 years inthis business.
They turned 65, so now theyretire, and all that corporate
knowledge just walks out thedoor.
(48:29):
We need to be thinking about atransition plan for our retirees
so that we can keep themengaged.
So once they hit 65, we dropthem down to what I call the
3010.
So that would be 30 hours a weekfor 10 months.
And their goal during those 30hours is to be mentors to the
(48:51):
newer generations, to puttogether the training workshops
so that people are able to getall of the knowledge that is
going to be gone once thisperson really truly leaves the
company.
So, this is the three years ofapprenticeship where they go 10
months, 30 hours a week, thenthey go nine months, 20 hours a
(49:13):
week, and then they stay on uh10 hours for nine months so that
they can be more of the thinktank on how do we move processes
and procedures forwards withinthis organization.
And I think if companies didsomething like that, they would
end up getting such a wealth ofinformation and such a new
(49:35):
enriched direction from theseolder adults who still have so
much more to give.
And, you know, we still seedoctors who are working in their
70s and even all the way to the80s.
SPEAKER_00 (49:47):
Yes, because they have the knowledge and they have
the experience.
I was an executive assistant forover 40 years.
And I was missing it.
And now I volunteer to helppeople with organizing and
spreadsheets because I enjoy it.
And you've got to keep thatgoing because you've done it so
(50:07):
long.
Why just throw it away and doabsolutely nothing with it?
SPEAKER_01 (50:12):
Exactly.
And you can take that knowledgethat you have and put together
best practices and teach them tothat next generation.
You can volunteer at your highschools to mentor some of these
students.
They're a bunch of students whohave nowhere to go after school,
who really could use somementoring and some guidance and
some skills that will benefitthem from the rest of their
(50:34):
lives.
The AmeriCorps has a seniorcore.
So if you're looking forvolunteer opportunities, that
may be a really good one.
The Small Business Associationhas a society core of retired
executives.
So if you have knowledge,Rebecca, like you do, you may
volunteer to help set upsomebody's books or help them
get organized in their office.
(50:55):
And those are really criticalthings that can make or break a
small business.
I think whatever it is thatyou're passionate about, you can
go out there and do it.
The only person stopping you isyou.
You're in the way of you livingyour best life.
At the end of the day, that'sthe biggest trick is get out of
(51:19):
your own way and just go do it.
I highly recommend that you notput any barriers in front of
yourself.
Pick a goal and then just go forit.
My dad used to say, you shouldalways shoot for the moon.
And the reason he would say youshould shoot for the moon,
(51:40):
because if you make it halfwaythere, you've already
accomplished more than anybodyelse around you when it comes to
that goal.
And then he would tell me, andremember, you're not in a
competition with the world,you're only in a competition
with yourself to make yourselfthe best self that you can be.
I love that.
SPEAKER_00 (51:58):
Yeah, that's great.
Encouragement.
Yes, exactly.
Dr.
Loyo, do you have any words ofencouragement or final words for
our audience?
SPEAKER_01 (52:11):
Absolutely.
Retirement is the best time ofyour life.
You can make it anything thatyou want it to be.
You can have every experiencethat you've ever dreamt of
having.
You just need to make a plan andset yourself up for being able
to have that amazing experience.
You want to take advantage ofyour independent years to do
(52:34):
that.
And while you do that and haveall the fun that you possibly
can, be sure to read thelongevity blueprint and create a
blueprint for yourself.
How do we take care of youshould anything happen?
Make sure that your assets areprotected so they will last you
a lifetime.
So one medical crisis does notbecome a generational financial
(52:55):
crisis.
Make all those difficultdecisions for you so that your
family doesn't have to makethose decisions.
Go out and live your best lifebecause you are the only one
that can be the most amazing youthat you are.
SPEAKER_00 (53:11):
Thank you very much.
I appreciate you joining metoday and for all your words of
wisdom and your heart for doingwhat you do.
SPEAKER_01 (53:20):
Thank you, Rebecca.
It has been wonderful talking toyou today.
And I am so glad that youreinvented yourself at 64
because you are going to be aliving, breathing inspiration
for the group of people that islistening and that is starting
to think about retirement andthinking it's all over.
(53:40):
It is not.
It is just beginning.
You have the reins and theability to take it anywhere you
want it to go.
I can't wait to see howsuccessful you are in the next
decade because I know you'regoing to be doing this for at
least that long, if not longer.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (53:58):
And thank you for that.
I want to thank my listeners forjoining Seniors Home Zone, where
we talk about life'stransitions.
Until the next time, take careof yourself and your home.
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