InFocus featuring Glenmeadow President and CEO, Dr. Kathy Martin

From the 22 News Plus Studio, this is 22 News In Focus with Patrick Berry. Hello everyone and welcome to this edition of In Focus. I'm your host Patrick Berry. We are here in the 22 News Plus Studios having a conversation that's kind of near and dear to my heart. Whether you heard me mention it on my old role on Mass Appeal or here in my role hosting In Focus, I want to live to be 100 years old. I really do. And I look at aging completely different now than say when my parents were aging before they passed. Mom was 90, Dad was 85. Or my grandparents who passed were both in their 80s, young 80s. So the possibility of living longer is a greater possibility now than it has ever been, which is why I'm excited about having this conversation. Because sitting across the desk from me today for the president and CEO of Glen Meadow is Dr. Kathy Martin. Dr. Martin, thank you so very much for joining me. Thanks for having me. I look forward to this. You live in the world of older adults and in my opening statement there, aging is a lot different today than it is, like I said, for my parents or even my grandparents. So living to 100 isn't out of the realm of possibility, is it? Not at all. But there's things we need to know and do. Right. There are things that choices that we make on a daily basis help to determine how long you're going to live. But interestingly, some research that came out two years ago have actually pushed the definition of old back by about 20 years. So the way that we grew up thinking about... So 50 is the new 30, 60 is the new 40. Yeah, something like that. 80 is the new 60. That the way we conceptualize age has dramatically shifted over the last 50 years or so. And some of that is due to perspective, but a lot of it is due to lifestyle choices. It's due to medical care. It's due to preventative medicine, that things we think about now in a way that our parents and grandparents never did. It's funny you say that just this morning, I was having a conversation here in the building with a colleague about cancer. And this woman's brother was diagnosed with cancer. And 40 years ago, cancer was a death sentence. It really was. But now if it's caught early enough, it's treatable, you're living longer. So healthcare is a perfect example. We're making better healthcare choices, lifestyle choices, but also just our general practitioners and medical care is significantly better than what my grandparents experienced. Absolutely. And that's the result of good research and investments that corporations, the government has made in research that helps us move forward in ways that dramatically shift our perceptions about illness, our perceptions about aging, and the likelihood of you or me or anybody living to 100. Those are really important parts of the entire scope of the aging process, that it's not only the decisions that we make, it's the positions that we put ourselves in to have access to good healthcare. And that's not a given for everyone. And in many cases, access to good providers to cutting edge research can be a privilege that not everybody has access to. But we also have to think about the role that we play as individuals in making it possible for cancer to not be the death sentence that it once was. It's not just the medicine, it's the person who shows up in that exam room with a doctor. Did they come early enough to get an early diagnosis? Are they doing their regular preventative testing? Those kinds of decisions that we make on a regular basis. Yeah, I have spoken to a male doctor once about prostate cancer and he said, every male will get it. It's just how early you detect it determines your survival rate. Because it's just, if you live long enough, every male will get it. Right. And the other thing that that brings up for me is that we're talking about it in ways we never did before. So prostate cancer is not something that you talk about behind closed doors and hushed voices. Neither is a mammogram or a pap smear. Those things that were just verboten to talk about when we were growing up is now important to talk about not only with friends and colleagues, but parents talking to children about their health history. It's funny you say that because every two years, my extended family, and I'm tearing up because I want to laugh about this. My extended family, we get together for a family reunion every two years, right? But the conversation always delves into, hey, what are your ailments today? But it's good because we're all related. It's, oh, well, I've got this thing. And it's funny, I've got this thing called depatrins. It's in my hand, which comes from Northern European ancestry. So I have Irish ancestry in me. So I mentioned that one day, and sure enough, one of my cousins goes, oh, is that what that lump is? But we have these conversations that, like you said, just didn't have them before. So we're more knowledgeable. We are, and we have access to information that we never had before. So the communities that pop up on Facebook that are related to a specific health condition, just the publicity and the conversations that we have about health now are so dramatically different. But it's so important because it helps you to make connections about symptoms that you may have, and say, maybe I ought to go get that checked out. Or someone, as you were just describing, in your family who has an experience, you're like, oh, that sounds familiar. So we're talking about health in ways that we just never were conditioned to before. So that's one way that I think media and social media has really been helpful in opening up some doors for conversations that we'd always been reluctant to. We are up on our first commercial break. When we come back, we will dive into how people are living differently now, which will extend their lives. Stay with us. We're back This is 22 News In Focus with Patrick Berry. This is 22 News In Focus with Patrick Berry. Welcome back, everyone. We are in the 22 News Plus studios. I am happy to be joined by Dr. Kathy Martin, the president and CEO of Glenn Meadow, and we're talking about aging and aging wonderfully. We've had a few laughs in the first part of this conversation, which is perfect because laughter is good medicine, right? It is good medicine. And it makes us socially, you know, and being social is one of the key aspects of living longer versus isolation. Absolutely. I think social isolation has always been a concern as we think about aging, but it's fascinating to me that in all of the conversations that we have about social determinants of health and how we can extend our lives. And yes, social activity is important and staying connected to others is important. But what we don't often hear enough about is having fun and the importance of enjoying what you do on a regular basis as something that really will help you live better, if not live longer. I think we talk so much about extending our lifespan. And yes, we have people who live now to 104, 105 or older. But I think the question that we're not asking enough is, are we living better? Right. I think we are. We are in many respects. And one of the challenges is as we age, the more likely we will be managing chronic health conditions and for a longer number of years. But going back to your point about social isolation and social connection, it's such an important part of the aging process. And it's one of the main reasons that older adults choose to move to a retirement community or an active 55 plus community because they don't want to be alone in their family home anymore. And that is a real trend nationwide and actually internationally about what is driving people to leave the home that they've known for 30 plus years and move into an apartment or a condo because you want to be around other people. What is the biggest 55 plus community in the United States? The villages in Florida. But that's the whole thing is you talked, you know, again, our generation is like, I'm not going to the villages, you know, it's just seems kind of kind of weird. But I have a good friend who lives there. He goes, best move I ever made in my life. He goes, there's so much to do. There's so many friends. He goes, I've made so many new friends. He goes, you're never sitting around. But that's the key to aging. Well, it is. And you have people around you who are experiencing the same things in life. So you were talking earlier about the conversations that you have at your family reunion about, you know, who has what condition? Well, that happens in a retirement community as well, where you have people who are going through the same stages of life. And that is such an important part of the aging process is not feeling like you're the only one who's experiencing something. But it's also about creating ways to keep yourself busy, whether it's activities that you have planned at a community. Are you still doing volunteer work? Are you consulting? Are you working in a volunteer capacity with a local nonprofit? There are so many ways to maintain that connection. And what's great about Western Mass in particular, is we have so many ways for those connections to happen. It's really wonderful. And I think a lot of people have that fear of, okay, I'm going to retire from my job. What do I do next? But to your point, and I say this to everybody, is there's so many opportunities out there to volunteer or if you even want a part-time job, there's so many things to do to stay active, keep physically and mentally. You just have to kind of open your eyes and look for it. Right. And staying active, however you define that word, is such a huge priority for those who are in retirement now, especially the boomer adults who are turning, the oldest of whom are turning 80 in 2026. That it's about not only the activity for the sake of activity, but it's about purpose. It's about finding ways to direct your energy and your expertise into organizations and causes that are meaningful for you. And in some cases, some older adults have to work, but many choose to work as a way to stay intellectually engaged, to stay connected with communities, to try new things, to learn new things and not retreat into the background as we have been conditioned to believe retirement is about. In your world, there's a phrase out there, it's called the third age. I've never heard of that. Explain that to me. So the third age was coined by Dr. Ken Dykwald, who looked at our lifespans in terms of ages or phases, Taylor Swift would call them eras. So from zero to about 30, that's your primary developmental age. That's about learning and growth. 30 to 60 is your productivity age. That's when you're working, you're building a family, however you define that term. But then 60 plus is now about exploration. It's a rebirth. It's growth as opposed to decline and withdrawal, which we had typically associated with retirement. Retirement is no longer a defined end to a professional career. It can overlap into your third age where you perhaps, it's actually, it's a really great paradox because you can retire and take on an encore career. You can relax and find new things to be adventurous in. You can contribute to society and reflect with a younger generation on what it was like to work in an industry. So there is so many opportunities for growth and exploration that it's no longer a singular experience, but retirement is dynamic and age is a mindset. It's funny. I meet with my financial planner every year. I'm getting, I'm 58. And so getting closer to that point in life. And a few years ago, he said, there's three lives in retirement. The go-go years, the slow-go years, and the no-go years. Oh, I love that. I love it too. And he kind of put it into perspective. He was like, the go-go years, you're still active, you're healthy. And then you start to slow down a little bit and then there's a period of just naturally, you don't do much anymore, but you got to make the most of those, of all of those years. Well, and what I think is so amazing is that there are ways that you can adapt in each one of those phases of life by capitalizing on technology or being just open to exploring an interest in a different way. So I think of someone who's an avid reader who may be in advancing old age and experiencing low vision. Well, we have audio books. You can still join a book club and talk about a book that you listened to and not read a traditional book. So there's so many ways that you can stay connected to the things that you love as you go through each of those phases. So at places like Glen Meadow, which I love those facilities because they are kind of like the village's mini. It's dotted all over the United States. Are there, do you encourage, do you have programs to get people out of their living spaces to get them involved? It's like, is that an everyday thing or? Absolutely. Absolutely. Our wellness department is in charge of all of our programming and it's designed first and foremost about social interaction. And I recall. Because we came, we started with that social interaction. We did. It's so important. And, and I recall a conversation I had with a relatively new resident who took her schedule out of her purse and says, how do you expect me to go to 16 things today? I don't expect you to go to 16 things, but I want to go to all of them because they're so good. And we want to have feedback. It is really great feedback. So we have a wealth of programming available, everything from exercise and, and water aerobics and stretching to jewelry making and poetry and Shakespeare. So there are so many things that you can do depending on what your level of interest is or level of energy is on any given day. But we try and have a wide range of options available to meet people where they are. So we may have a program that is not widely attended, but is beloved by two or three residents. We're not going to cancel that program because it's meaningful for some number of our residents. And then we have others like our 10 a.m. exercise class, which is packed. So there's a wide range of things that we can do. And it's not only programming that we are hosting, but we love to bring speakers into the community. We're partners with the zoo at forest park or the conservation classroom. So they come with animals. It's all about lifelong learning. We are up on our second commercial break. Stay with us. We've got plenty more to talk about with Dr. Kathy Martin. We'll be back in a moment. This is 22 news in focus with Patrick Berry. This is 22 news in focus with Patrick Berry. Welcome back everyone to this edition of in focus. I'm your host Patrick Berry. Today, we're talking about aging well, making sure as I mentioned early on in today's show that I personally want to live to be a hundred. I want to know why I turned a hundred and it's not out of the realm of possibility based on lifestyles, what we know about health care and remaining active and so forth. So I'm excited today because Dr. Kathy Martin, the president and CEO of Glen Meadow is sitting across the desk from me. Kathy, how would you describe Glen Meadow? Is it a retirement community? It is a retirement. Okay. That's what you'd call it. But it's like, don't take this the wrong way. It seems like college for seniors. Like everybody hangs out together. It's like, there's no kid obligations. You know, you're free, you know, but it sounds like a lot of fun, quite frankly, these senior, I don't even want to call them senior. I don't want to, I don't even want to call them retirement community. It's a senior living community. Yeah. And, and it happens to be one that is for those who are 62 plus, but I got four more years. It is a lot of fun. And it's so interesting that when we have, have prospective residents come to visit and they often bring their adult children with them. And if the, the prospective resident might be a little iffy, I tell you, the adult children are saying, Hey, when can I move it? Is it too soon for me to get on the wait list? And, and we are so ready for that kind of experience where we don't have to worry about shoveling the snow and dealing with, you know, shoveling out the mailbox. So the postal worker can get through or, um, worry about those things of, uh, we call it life's overhead that, that people at a certain time of their life are ready to just be done with. You know, I, I, I think of my parents again, generationally different. I love the idea. My, my parents, they, we had, they had said point blank, you will never get me out of this home, you know, but you know, they were, that was that generation. This, I built this home in 1961 or whatever year my parents built their house. And, you know, my, my mother died in that home, you know, but our generation is like, how can I put me on the list now? We're ready. Exactly. We're ready. Generate generationally different. And, and I think for, for our parents generation, what they're facing now is homes that they may have built that they can't navigate as easily as they used to. So my parents had great foresight and built a one floor ranch style home, but they don't have to worry about going up and down the stairs. But if you are living in a multi-story home and you can't navigate stairs as well, then that may help to make the decision about joining a place like Glen Meadow that much easier. Because sometimes the houses just aren't modifiable to the way that, that you would need in, in advancing age. That's my current home. And my wife and I have had that conversation because we, our bedrooms upstairs and you can't modify it to have a downstairs bedroom without incurring an enormous cost, you know, so having another option is great. I want to switch gears a little bit to something called the blue zone influence and the power nine principles, right? I've got them written down. Those are my cheat sheets, but, but explain that to me and how it works in your world. So the blue, blue zones are regions of the world where people live a remarkably long and healthy life. And I'm thinking of Central America, Japan, Italy, there are certain, uh, exactly. And Loma Linda, California. Interestingly enough, Loma Linda, California. Yeah. So, um, you're right. So it's Greece, Italy, Japan, Costa Rica, and Loma Linda, California. Okay. But there are choices that the people who live in those areas have made individually and collectively that contribute to long lives. And there it's not rocket science by any means, but taken together that it's, it's a pretty powerful common combination. So first and foremost is movement in whatever way you find meaningful move. It could be gardening. It could be strength training. It could be pickleball. And in each of those communities there are regions, they're warmer climates too tend to be, yes. You know, so you're outside more, you're active more, right. And you can, you can put that under spiritual practice too, that, you know, the spiritual side doesn't necessarily always mean organized religion, but spending time in nature is a great way to be connected with the higher power, whoever, whatever you determine that to be. And additionally, as what's running through my head is in each of those regions, um, food, very pure, very, um, you know, fresh, you know, so outside living and fresh food is, will help you live longer. Yeah, absolutely. And, and the way the blue zone research would describe it as they use the, they use the term plant slant that the plant slant, the more you choose foods that are vegetarian plant-based, the more that will contribute to a longer life. Okay. But the other factor about food that is important is that the blue zone structure is to finish eating when you're about 80% full. So it's not only what you're eating, it's how much you're eating, which is against the American process. Precisely. So it's nothing, nothing in those communities, generally speaking is supersized. Okay. Right. So you're not overeating portion sizes are not as huge as they are in the U S but you're making better decisions and food is a central part of your life, but doesn't overwhelm it. If, if that makes any sense. So it's just making good nutritional decisions, staying active. Is that take taking some of that blue, those blue zone concepts, is that what you kind of incorporating into, into Glen Meadows portion control, healthy eating? Yeah, certainly. You know, I think that the perspective that we use more as moderation that, you know, we have an incredible menu in our, our dining areas that you can have a great Mediterranean style dish, or you can have, you know, steak and mashed potatoes. So it's, it's about finding the ways to, to balance what you should be eating with what you want to be eating. So we like a good dessert at Glen Meadow as much as we like, you know, kale and spinach and all those plant-based things. But again, everything in moderation and I, and I kind of how I live my life now is, you know, as much as I want that big bowl of ice cream after dinner, maybe half a bowl ice cream. Right. Keep it in moderation. Right. And, and the blue zone structure calls out alcohol as well, that moderate amounts of alcohol, preferably red wine can have health protective benefits. With the amount of red wine and dark chocolate I drink, I will easily hit a hundred red wine. I drink dark chocolate. I, you know, Kathy, our time is up, but thank you so very much for joining me. This was a fascinating conversation. I'm feeling much more positive about hitting triple digits. I have every confidence that you'll get there. Thank you. Good seeing you, my friend. Good to see you too.