30 THE QUEENS COURIER • HEALTH • SEPTEMBER 3, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
health
Queens senator distributes PPE to local businesses in Bayside
BY QNS STAFF
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
State Senator John Liu teamed up
with the Bayside Business Association to
off er support to local businesses on Bell
Boulevard over the weekend.
Liu and leaders of the Bayside Business
Association, including Ed Probst, the association’s
president; Amanda Talty, a committee
member; and Maryann McAleer,
also a committee member, went door-todoor
on Sunday, Aug. 23, handing out
packages that included masks and promotional
items from other local businesses.
Th e group visited a slew of Bell
Boulevard mainstays, including VIPizza,
Martha’s Country Bakery and Bourbon
Street.
LONELINESS AND AGING
My father-in-law, of blessed memory,
oft en said, “Loneliness is a fatal disease.”
A friend of mine once described loneliness
as “a devastating illness…more so
than physical illness.” Some can overcome
a little, but the older an individual is, the
more hazardous the loneliness becomes.
A hug or a touch from another becomes
extremely important! Loneliness, according
to Hawkley, a senior research scientist,
declares that, “Loneliness is a universal
human experience and being the
social animal that we are, there must be
implications when those social connections
are not satisfi ed.”
Th ere is, and will always be, a human
need to be connected and integrated into
a social network. Hawkley further states
“When social networking is absent, the
consequences are all too real in terms of
one’s mental and physical health.” Most
of us are intimately familiar with only
one kind of loneliness – our own. Th e
research has shown that unrelieved loneliness
is oft en accompanied by frequent
mood swings that send an older individual
to prescriptive medications for relief.
Th ere are others who defi ne loneliness
based on statistical studies. Still others
lend credence to the issue based on brain
scans, suggesting a decline in brain functioning
as a reason for that loneliness.
And there are still others who believe that
the individual who suff ers fatigue from
loneliness is based on observable behavioral
patterns.
Julianne Holt Lunstad, a psychologist
at Brigham Young University, questions
whether loneliness may be due to people
becoming socially disconnected in a variety
of ways. She describes loneliness as “a
subjective feeling or sensation that tests
one’s health risks.”
Simply living alone or in a state of isolation
can also be as harmful to one’s health
as just plain feeling lonely.
Hawkley asks, “At what point do you
say that somebody is lonely? A teenage
boy, alone on a Saturday night may experience
a very diff erent kind of loneliness
than does an elderly man without a
spouse or partner to communicate with,
nor hasn’t spoken to anyone for days.”
Loneliness can mean diff erent things to
diff erent people, whether young or old.
Scientists need to measure the condition
known as loneliness in an encompassing
way where they can defi ne it as
either slightly, moderately, or extremely
lonely and as a way of clarifying its
treatment plan. Th e researcher Sheldon,
off ers several correlates on loneliness that
can be identifi ed as psychologic, economic,
and physiologic, and that contributes
heavily to loneliness in the adult
population. He further clarifi es how “the
infi rmed, the widow and the single man
over eighty and living alone are highly
prone to experiencing loneliness.”
Th ose who are well enough to live
without assistance for performing their
activities of daily living were, surprisingly,
most lonely. Others who may be bedfast
and who have a caregiver to help
tamp down the sense of isolation may
do better.
A reprint letter dated 1859 and written
by Florence Nightingale, said that “pets
are excellent companions for those who
are confi ned with long term illness.”
In several studies on the value of animals
as pets, especially with the older individual,
it was suggested that the most common
reason why people love having a pet,
was a way to combat feeling lonely and
can also add quality to family life. For the
isolated, pets hold an even greater importance
for the elder’s mental state. When it
comes to ownership of a pet, there are several
reasons why one can always rely on a
pet to enhance the quality of that ownership.
Th e answer is, pets are always available
and they are non-judgmental.
Th e researcher Messent, suggests, “Th e
simple act of stroking, touching and fondling
a pet provides a temporary substitute
for the human touch.” Pets are considered,
by many owners, as members of
a family and can play a major part in an
older person’s existence.
A fi nal thought: I realize that feeling
good may be the last thing on our minds
Photos by Dean Moses
Dr. Sheldon
Ornstein is a
registered
professional
nurse with
a doctoral
degree in
nursing
organization. He has
specialized in the care of
older adults and has published
many articles on
the subject. He has done
post-graduate work in gerontology
and has taught
at several universities. In
2013, he was inducted into
the Nursing Hall of Fame at
Teachers College, Columbia
University.
as the pandemic grinds into the seventh
month in America. Countless researchers
say pursuing happiness and a happy
outlook can give us the resilience to get
through it.
According to the researcher Laura
Santos, professor of psychology at Yale
University, “ We need to focus on happiness,
more now, not less.” Th erefore,
when you are feeling sad and lonely, try
singing my favorite Beatles’ song, “Here
Comes the Sun.”
Sheldon Ornstein Ed.D, RN, LNHA
link
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
