In the fall of 2019, we were all going about our lives and were completely unaware of what was to come. A friend mentioned that there was going to be a new group starting in the Olean area that was part of the Village to Village movement. She told me that she thought I might find it interesting and said that it was going to be a social organization that would help to connect people over 50 to activities and social support systems. I was curious but did not hear any more about it for a few months. Then, Covid arrived and tore our usual life activities apart. In the midst of Covid, I received a call suggesting that I might want to get involved with the Enchanted Mountains Village. The more I learned about it, the more interested I became. I decided that I needed to know more and talked to a few of the people who were getting it started. 

Eventually, I was invited to be on the Board of Directors. Just about that time, Covid got really bad and many of us were very isolated. Since we could not have group social events, EMV really stepped up and started having Zoom socials, Zoom presentations, Zoom yoga, Zoom book reviews, and so many other things. It was wonderful to look forward to the weekly presentations and to meet new people. It really helped with the isolation that Covid had imposed. As time progressed, working with the EMV folks, there were many ways that I found I could use some of the skills that had been part of my work life. It felt good to be productive and to be part of an organization that has such a positive outlook and function.

After officially becoming a non-profit organization, EMV really grew a lot. A volunteer list was developed and a directory of professional service providers was put together based on the recommendations of the members. Little did I know, at the time those lists were being developed, how useful that would be. One day, my shower stopped working. I called a plumbing service that I had used before and someone came to look at the problem. I had to pay $96 for the estimate and was told that the work was going to be around $1,100 and would involve cutting a significant hole in my wall. Wow! I did not expect that. While complaining to another EMV board director about the high cost of getting this work done and the vague feeling I had that I was being taken advantage of, she gave me a name from our providers list and suggested I call him. I followed up on that and had an incredible outcome. For less than $100, the shower was fixed, works well, and there's no hole in the wall. My initial suspicion was confirmed. Somebody thought I was too naïve to realize I was being taken advantage of. The power of this community really protected me. 

​Loyalty, for me, had always been freely given with no expectation of reciprocity. Either in an instant, or over time, I had become loyal to you. You owed me naught. But 80 years old is no longer a distant horizon. Has the erosion of physical ability or the emergence of emotional and intellectual insecurity altered that equation? Do I now need something, somehow, from an individual or institution that has received unqualified, unquestioned loyalty from me? What’s in this exchange for me?

A half a century ago, a friend sent me a telegram from half a continent away. “I need help,” it said. I replied: “En route.” I fired up my old LandCruiser and drove 1,800 miles  through winter’s wrath to get to him. Loyalty? Obligation? Duty? All, perhaps. But if that same friend asked today, would I? No. The loyalty, the obligation, the duty have faded. Why? My friend went his way; I went mine. Connections frayed. Neither of us is to blame; life connects and disconnects. My adoration for the Celtics of Bill Russell, John Havlicek, Larry Bird, and Kevin McHale has faded as the Celts’ playoff runs have fallen into obscurity. What have they done for me lately?

by Athena Godet-Calogeras
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​Many of us can remember the time when research of any topic often involved hours perusing tomes of books and magazine articles in a local library or university. No longer. Now, comfortably ensconced in front of a computer, iPad, or smart phone, we simply key in pertinent words and, voilà, links related to our subject appear! The world of information is just a click away — for better or for worse.

We’ve gone to cyberspace for the best recipe for a particular dish, for advice on how to treat an injury, for suggestions on how best to lose weight, or gain it, for uses and limitations of certain medications, and on and on. The cyber library of information is immediate and can be useful if we know how to decipher and choose valid sources; critical thinking is a necessity. 

A public health case in point can illustrate the critical need for reliable information: the outbreak of measles and other diseases prevented by vaccination. Although measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, almost 1,300 cases of measles were reported in 31 states in the U.S. in 2019— the greatest number since 1992.
This is a disease that a sneeze can send a virus lingering in the air for a couple of hours. Why did the U.S experience the worst outbreak of measles in more than 25 years and the recurrence of other diseases preventable by vaccination? Possibly because more people are refusing vaccination. We can offer the same rationale for the two year (thus far) dominance of  COVID-19.

When in 1796 Edward Jenner demonstrated that inoculation with material from a smallpox lesion could protect against further exposure to the disease, the vaccine era was born. A hundred years later, there was a vaccine against rabies. Last century many new vaccines were developed, and thousands of potential deaths from preventable diseases were averted. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) considers vaccinations as one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century. In this author’s experience, Salk’s polio vaccine was welcomed as a godsend, ending the tragedy of paralysis or death from the feared disease. Prior to the 1950s, some 15,000 people were paralyzed by polio each year. With the production of the vaccine, hundreds would line up for the injection, and later for the medicated sugar cube (the oral vaccine developed by Sabin. “Sunday Oral Sunday” publicized the day it was distributed). Since the 1950s, vaccination against certain diseases has been mandatory in schools and advised for others. Parents and their physicians follow a schedule of immunization.

Yet, there have always been individuals who discount or disregard scientific and other reputable evidence. If someone gets vaccinated and afterwards contracts a disease, the vaccination is the culprit. In 1998 a British doctor, Andrew Wakefield, said that he had found a relationship between the vaccine given for measles, mumps, and rubella (the m,MMR vaccine) and autism. His study involving 12 children concluded that those vaccines taken together could alter immune systems leading to brain damage — and autism. Numerous epidemiological studies followed, debunking the doctor’s work. Later, British authorities stripped Dr. Wakefield of his license.

Whom and what can you believe in cyberspace? Here are some guidelines:

• Seek sites from established institutions
• Check for the author’s expertise as well as his or her bias.
• Avoid commercial sites and anonymous authors
• Check both date of publication as well as the publication’s links.

In the health care arena, there are several credible and user-friendly sites you can rely on. They include the National Institutes of Health, the Center for Disease Control, the American Diabetes Association, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Drugs.com, and the Kaiser Family Foundation. 

Not heeding information from reliable sources can endanger one’s health as well as that of others.