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KENOSHA, Wisconsin /
Kenosha News / July 20, 2009
Rising number of centenarians challenges views of being old
By Gary J. Kunich, gkunich@kenoshanews.com
and Hope Yen, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON — It’s starting to get crowded in the 100-year-olds’ club.
Once virtually nonexistent, the world’s population of centenarians is projected to reach nearly 6 million by midcentury. That’s pushing the median age toward 50 in many developed nations and challenging views of what it means to be old and middle-age.
It’s hard to say how many who have reached triple digits reside in Kenosha.
The state only counts to 85 and older, and at last count, there were 2,169 in Kenosha County.
“I see more and more every day,” said Patti Pagel, a registered nurse who is Aurora Medical Center’s senior service program coordinator for Kenosha, Racine and Walworth counties. “I’ll get 100 to 130 referrals a month, and maybe 6 to 8 percent are over 100. One of my roles is to look for programs for elderly people who want to stay independent.
Emma Hendrickson, 100, of Morris Plains, N.J. throws the ball at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nev., in April. More people are living to 100, challenging views of what it means to be old. AP PHOTO
“I give a lot of credit to the health care, and mostly preventive care,” she added. “We’ve educated a lot of people over the last 20 years, and they’re getting a colonoscopy, bloodwork. They’re seeing their primary care physician regularly and having those important conversations. We’re identifying things that help them do better.
“When a patient goes into a hospital with a fractured hip, there are all these assaults with the IV, the pain, the anesthesia. All these things happen, which tends to cause older people to go into delirium,” Pagel said. “We are becoming more educated. We get the family involved in the hospital stay. We don’t let people lay in bed. We want them to get up and get into therapy more quickly. If older people need plenty of rest, we’re going to try to be more quiet and not come in every 10 minutes for vitals. It’s about what’s best for the patient.”
The number of centenarians already has jumped from an estimated few thousand in 1950 to more than 340,000 worldwide today, with the highest concentrations in the United States and Japan, according to the latest Census Bureau figures. Their numbers are projected to grow at more than 20 times the rate of the total population by 2050, making them the fastest growing age segment.
Fran Petrick, a registered nurse and administrator at Brookside Care Center, said she and her staff implement quality care that keeps residents engaged and active.
At last count, she said, there were at least four residents over 100.
Tony Burman is the second oldest at 103, and reads the Kenosha News each day from cover to cover, and likes to tell stories to other residents.
“To tell you the truth,” he said. “I don’t really think about my age. People used to ask, ‘How long do you want to live to?’ I don’t know. I want to live, I don’t want to die. But if I do, that’s OK.”
Burman drove a car until he was 95 and got into an accident. But even then, he said, it was the other person’s fault.
Japan, known for its low-fat staple of fish and rice, will have the most centenarians in 2050 — 627,000, or nearly 1 percent of its total population, according to census estimates.
For Burman, he was raised on meat and potatoes, with everything cooked at home, but his secret is simple: “I worked hard because I didn’t have time for anything else. It’s hard work and moderation.”
Down the hall, a group of older women all gather in a recreation room for a story. Eleanor Scharf, 100, says she wishes she wasn’t that old because it’s catching up to her now.
“I liked it better when I could do more, but I’ve had a good life,” she said.
She bowled for 30 years, and still goes out to eat and on field trips.
Jon Hrpeck, the activities director, walks in with a Wii fishing rod and tells the ladies they’ll soon be fishing, and that cracks most of them up.
“That’s our job to keep them active, and we enjoy it,” he said.
In this Jan. 11 file photo, Ann Nixon Cooper, center, prepares to cut her birthday cake as she celebrates her 107th birthday party at her home in Atlanta, Ga. surrounded by family and friends. AP PHOTO
Centenarians are expected to increase from 75,000 to more than 600,000 by mid-century in the United States. Those primarily are baby boomers hitting the 100-year mark.
Brookside resident Beatrice Roseth is a young 91, but expecting to get there, even if it hasn’t always been clean living up to this point.
“Oh honey, I used to smoke like a fiend!” she said with a hearty laugh. “I just started smoking at 20, because I was a bowler, and the ladies would stop and have a beer and cigarette. I used to have a cigarette in every ashtray in the house.
“And one day, I was about 35, my daughter said I was going to die if I kept smoking, so I quit cold turkey. It was on a Saturday.”
And, it appears, she’s none the worse for wear.
“I feel great!” she said. “Everything has gotten better for us. Medicine has gotten better, and look at this place, it’s the best, and we’re like a big family here!”
Roseth and the others have plenty of company.
Census estimates show:
— Come 2017, it will be the first time there will be more people 65 and older than there will be kids younger than 5.
— Due to low birth rates, Japan’s median age will increase from 37 in 1990 to 55 by 2050. The median age for the world during that same period will rise from 24 to 37, slowed by younger populations in Latin America and Africa.
— The median age in the United States will edge higher from 33 to 39, kept low by higher rates of immigration. [
rc]
©2009 Kenosha News
Emma Hendrickson, 100, of Morris Plains, N.J. throws the ball at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nev., in April. More people are living to 100, challenging views of what it means to be old. AP PHOTO
“I give a lot of credit to the health care, and mostly preventive care,” she added. “We’ve educated a lot of people over the last 20 years, and they’re getting a colonoscopy, bloodwork. They’re seeing their primary care physician regularly and having those important conversations. We’re identifying things that help them do better.
“When a patient goes into a hospital with a fractured hip, there are all these assaults with the IV, the pain, the anesthesia. All these things happen, which tends to cause older people to go into delirium,” Pagel said. “We are becoming more educated. We get the family involved in the hospital stay. We don’t let people lay in bed. We want them to get up and get into therapy more quickly. If older people need plenty of rest, we’re going to try to be more quiet and not come in every 10 minutes for vitals. It’s about what’s best for the patient.”
The number of centenarians already has jumped from an estimated few thousand in 1950 to more than 340,000 worldwide today, with the highest concentrations in the United States and Japan, according to the latest Census Bureau figures. Their numbers are projected to grow at more than 20 times the rate of the total population by 2050, making them the fastest growing age segment.
Fran Petrick, a registered nurse and administrator at Brookside Care Center, said she and her staff implement quality care that keeps residents engaged and active.
At last count, she said, there were at least four residents over 100.
Tony Burman is the second oldest at 103, and reads the Kenosha News each day from cover to cover, and likes to tell stories to other residents.
“To tell you the truth,” he said. “I don’t really think about my age. People used to ask, ‘How long do you want to live to?’ I don’t know. I want to live, I don’t want to die. But if I do, that’s OK.”
Burman drove a car until he was 95 and got into an accident. But even then, he said, it was the other person’s fault.
Japan, known for its low-fat staple of fish and rice, will have the most centenarians in 2050 — 627,000, or nearly 1 percent of its total population, according to census estimates.
For Burman, he was raised on meat and potatoes, with everything cooked at home, but his secret is simple: “I worked hard because I didn’t have time for anything else. It’s hard work and moderation.”
Down the hall, a group of older women all gather in a recreation room for a story. Eleanor Scharf, 100, says she wishes she wasn’t that old because it’s catching up to her now.
“I liked it better when I could do more, but I’ve had a good life,” she said.
She bowled for 30 years, and still goes out to eat and on field trips.
Jon Hrpeck, the activities director, walks in with a Wii fishing rod and tells the ladies they’ll soon be fishing, and that cracks most of them up.
“That’s our job to keep them active, and we enjoy it,” he said.
In this Jan. 11 file photo, Ann Nixon Cooper, center, prepares to cut her birthday cake as she celebrates her 107th birthday party at her home in Atlanta, Ga. surrounded by family and friends. AP PHOTO
Centenarians are expected to increase from 75,000 to more than 600,000 by mid-century in the United States. Those primarily are baby boomers hitting the 100-year mark.
Brookside resident Beatrice Roseth is a young 91, but expecting to get there, even if it hasn’t always been clean living up to this point.
“Oh honey, I used to smoke like a fiend!” she said with a hearty laugh. “I just started smoking at 20, because I was a bowler, and the ladies would stop and have a beer and cigarette. I used to have a cigarette in every ashtray in the house.
“And one day, I was about 35, my daughter said I was going to die if I kept smoking, so I quit cold turkey. It was on a Saturday.”
And, it appears, she’s none the worse for wear.
“I feel great!” she said. “Everything has gotten better for us. Medicine has gotten better, and look at this place, it’s the best, and we’re like a big family here!”
Roseth and the others have plenty of company.
Census estimates show:
— Come 2017, it will be the first time there will be more people 65 and older than there will be kids younger than 5.
— Due to low birth rates, Japan’s median age will increase from 37 in 1990 to 55 by 2050. The median age for the world during that same period will rise from 24 to 37, slowed by younger populations in Latin America and Africa.
— The median age in the United States will edge higher from 33 to 39, kept low by higher rates of immigration. [rc]
©2009 Kenosha News
