SCAN

Yesterday, I attended a "Physician Lecture" at SCAN Health and Wellness Center.* It's amazing how many of these things are offered to older people here. I like to attend functions like this because I want to meet more people, partly for social reasons and partly to promote my acting course. I sat with the two women--Carol and Doris--I had met at the POLST seminar on Wednesday. The topic was "Managing Dementia" and frankly, I thought I'd be bored, but actually enjoyed it. It ran from 1:30 to 4:00 with a break in the middle.
These are weekly talks by Bruce Woodling, M.D. and his delivery is anything but stuffy. In fact, he sprinkled his talk--not heavily--with four-letter words, which added to my interest. I was amazed to hear he had worked at The Sinatra Center and had actually known Frank. Wow. Dr. Woodling is a big proponent of the Mediterranean diet, which I'm convinced is the healthiest one. Whether I could follow it, eschewing flour and sugar, is the question. I already eat a lot of fresh vegetables and fruit, at least.
I got there early, but Carol and Doris were there already, along with a woman named Jean. I spoke to her during the break and learned she was born in Canada, had started tap-dancing when she was in her sixties, and is now 93. Her husband is 97. Jean certainly has no cognitive impairment at all. Carol volunteers here, there, and everywhere, it seems, and she's a "friend" of the Ventura Library. She said they're having a book sale today and invited me to come, which I probably will.
The SCAN lectures run weekly through June and are free. At the last meetup, the doc treats attendees to a Mediterranean lunch. Think I'll plan to go weekly.
*I have yet to fully understand what SCAN actually is. It's a private enterprise, I know, and it looks as if it's health insurance for older people, but I'm not sure. I'll find out eventually, I guess.