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A chum a day keeps blues away
By JIM ROSS, Times Staff Writer INVERNESS -- Marguerite McKinney was 84, lonely and depressed. One day, she couldn't take it anymore. "I called my girlfriend and told her she better take me to the hospital. I was going to commit suicide," McKinney said. She received immediate medical help. The doctor didn't find any psychiatric problems, but he did offer an observation: "All you need is to be with people." McKinney listened. She went home and arranged for the county bus to stop at her Inverness apartment. Today, one year after McKinney experienced her dark hour, that bus regularly takes her to the East Citrus Community Center so she can eat meals, work on crafts and talk with other seniors. "They have saved my life," McKinney said of acquaintances at the center. McKinney's case, though extreme, illustrates a valuable point: Human interaction, in whatever form, makes senior citizens feel better about their lives and helps them age more happily. Now two University of Florida researchers have confirmed scientifically what McKinney learned by experience. They studied leisure activities of senior women and found human interaction to be just as important for the mind as physical activity is for the body. "Entertaining and socializing were really important to life satisfaction," said one of the researchers, Candace Ashton-Shaeffer, in summarizing the team's findings. "It makes intuitive sense because friendship and being around other people are, of course, factors in health and feeling good about oneself. "However, this research pointed to just how important those activities were to the overall well-being of older women," she said. The research should be of particular interest in Citrus, where 32 percent of the residents are age 65 or older and the median age, 52.6, is greater than all but one of Florida's 66 other counties. Ashton-Shaeffer and research partner Heather Gibson are assistant professors in UF's department of recreation, parks and tourism. They also are core faculty members in the university's Institute on Aging. They have presented their findings on this topic at several academic conferences. Gibson said much of the research concerning women's leisure activities focused on younger women. So in 1999 she and Ashton-Shaeffer set out to fill a gap in the information stream. Using a commercial database, they selected 600 women throughout Florida and mailed them 11-page surveys that inquired about their leisure activities, work history, health, social networks, family circumstances and related topics. All the women were age 55 or older. Of the 600 potential subjects, 157 agreed to participate. The respondents came from a wide range of income and education levels, and their ages ranged from 55 to 91. The researchers analyzed the data. They also received permission to interview 24 of the women in person -- which they did during 2001. The respondents declared a wide variety of interests, with reading and religious activities toward the top of the list. (Only 4 percent of respondents said they played bingo.) But the researchers found that, in a way, the type of activity wasn't significant. 'It's not just the meaning of the activity," Gibson said. "It's the social nature of the activity. When they described leisure, it was very much a social experience. That interconnectedness with other people was something that contributed to the overall meaningfulness of the leisure experience." The respondents said health and financial constraints sometimes limited how they could enjoy their golden years. Also, women who still had significant caregiving responsibilities -- whether for parents, grandchildren or husbands -- said leisure wasn't as prevalent in their lives. Still, the researchers found the women viewed retirement as a chance to be free of responsibilities and pursue their own interests. And just as physical activity helped their bodies, social activity helped their minds. The researchers said their work might help people understand that providing leisure opportunities for seniors, whether through senior centers or county recreation departments, should be viewed as important and necessary, not a frill. They won't get any argument from Mary Bridwell, the county employee who oversees activities at the East Citrus center, where Marguerite McKinney has flourished. Dozens of seniors make their way to the center each weekday to play cards, exercise, dance, eat lunch and talk. When a new client arrives and stays to himself, Bridwell and center guests go out of their way to engage the person. "I think it has kept these people out of the hospital, out of the nursing homes," Bridwell said. "It's kept them in their homes, which is exactly what we try to do." The county has similar community centers in Lecanto and Homosassa Springs. It also maintains several sites where seniors can gather for a noon meal. The county's Senior Companion program also provides valuable interaction -- both for the program's volunteers and its clients. The program, funded by a federal grant, recruits active, low-income seniors age 60 and older. It matches them with homebound seniors who are at risk of being unable to live at home much longer. The goal is to let the clients remain independent and living in the community instead of a nursing home or some other type of assisted living. Human interaction helps the clients immeasurably, county officials said. And providing that interaction also helps the volunteers, giving them a renewed sense of purpose and responsibility. "It is a proven fact. We have seen it over and over in this program," said Bonnie Saylor, fiscal administrator for the county's division of support services. "We go in and find someone alone and isolated . . . and, all of a sudden, someone takes an interest in them . . . and we see a whole turnaround. "We've just seen some really neat, heartwarming things happen in this program," Saylor said. Government isn't alone in trying to help seniors. Many churches and civic groups give seniors a place to gather and interact, as well. And many seniors find their own way, of course, meeting for golf games or dinner dates or some other function. Then there's the institutional component. The UF study primarily dealt with women who lived at home, not in assisted living facilities or nursing homes. Still, Donna Waldron said the findings ring true at the Nature Coast Lodge assisted living facility in Lecanto, where she is program director. Waldron and many active residents insist that reclusive residents interact. They recognize that interaction is essential. "It's not what you do or how much you do," Waldron said. "It's just being there with the others." (Assisted living facilities help residents with some daily living activities. Nursing homes -- or skilled nursing facilities, as they are formally known -- provide around-the-clock nursing care.) "I think it's very important to keep busy," said Alice Weneck, 88, who has lived at Nature Coast the past two years and enjoys calling the home's bingo games from time to time. "I'm never in my room. They can't call me a couch potato," joked Maria Ihle, 82, a Nature Coast resident since June. She enjoys crafts and is learning to like bingo. Madeline Haug, 84, has spent the past 15 months at Nature Coast and is a regular at the bingo tables. She hasn't researched the link between human interaction and quality of life, but she understands it all the same. "The prizes aren't anything to rave about," Ms. Haug said of the bingo games. "But it keeps your mind active." -- Jim Ross writes about social services in Citrus County. Reach him at 860-7302 or jross@sptimes.com.
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