Magazine

Music can call at any age. These NEO musicians started playing when the muse was ready; some early, some later.

CHAD PENGAL

Chad Pengal, 61, has been interested in bluegrass music since he was in seventh grade, but he didn’t get serious about playing it until his mid-50s.

“I always wanted to learn,” says the homebuilder and owner of Chadwick Homes in Mentor. To that end, 15 years ago, he bought a banjo and started experimenting. “I started plucking away but didn’t get anywhere. I wasn’t able to concentrate until my kids grew up and moved out. I was involved with them and their activities. Once my kids grew up, I found I had a lot more spare time to work on learning to play the instruments.”

In his 50s, he started taking lessons on a five-string banjo and was soon jamming with local musicians at one of their homes. That led to a band that played small, local venues for a year before members went their separate ways.

When Pengal met his now-girlfriend, Gloria Severino, he took his playing to a new level. Severino had recently left a popular Northeast Ohio club band after a 23-year career as a singer and musician. She saw talent in Pengal’s playing and talked him into starting a duo.

Today that duo – Pickin Rocks – plays bluegrass, country and Americana songs at bars, restaurants and wineries in Northeast Ohio. Pengal plays banjo and standup bass, while Severino plays acoustic guitar. Both do power vocals.

“I’ve always loved music,” says Pengal. “I like live music and going to small places and seeing talented musicians. All my family is musical. My dad plays button box with the Fairport Harbor Jammers. My sister has a band that plays around town. And my son is a full-time, professional musician in Nashville.”

As you travel the back roads for your weekly luncheon with mom, you think about the tasks to be completed that day:  A trip to the grocery store. A quick stop at the bank. Shuttling kids to and from sporting activities.

Your mind continues to compose the list as you pull over for an ambulance with lights and sirens blaring. As you round the corner of your parents’ street, you see your father and several neighbors in the driveway; your heart skips a beat.

Your father says mom walked to the mailbox, twisted her ankle, fell and hit her head. She laid in the driveway for about 20 minutes before dad went looking for her. The paramedics insisted on taking mom to the hospital for a quick review and assessment. And so, the ride begins.

Changed Plans, Many Decisions

The next three hours are spent providing insurance information, reviewing past medical history, answering questions about the incident, undergoing multiple tests and waiting to see the emergency department physician. Mom appears to be fine and so your mind starts to revamp the list from this morning: the groceries can wait until tomorrow, hit the ATM on the way home, my sister may be able to shuttle the kids around. Then, the doctor arrives. Test results show abnormalities and the physician recommends that mom stay for observation and additional tests.

Many of us will experience similar situations like the one described. Most of us desperately try to avoid a trip to the hospital, so we avoid talking about the possibility, making us unprepared to traverse this emotional rollercoaster ride. Nearly one in five Americans will visit an emergency department at least once a year, according to the U.S. Centers for  Disease Control and Prevention. We must get out of our comfort zone, do research, and be prepared for an unexpected hospital stay as well as what follows.

By Jeanne Hoban

Caregiving for an older adult can be overwhelming. There are a lot of decisions to make and services to navigate – and it’s difficult to know where to start.

If you enter caregiving armed with a solid plan, while there may detours along the way, you can navigate the challenges more easily and with less stress.

Plan Ahead

It’s never too early to start developing a plan for future care needs. You don’t want to wait until an emergency situation arises to begin making what could be life-and-death decisions. And you want to make sure that the care plan honors your loved one’s values and preferences. If your loved one was incapacitated in an emergency and you needed to make decisions for them, do you know what they would want? Do you know who they would want to help?

Researchers at Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging identified five core values for care that most people find important: independence, safety, not being a burden, activities with family or friends, and having a say in who helps out. Have discussions with your older adult loved ones to find out what is most important to them. It’s not always easy to have those conversations, but it is important for understanding your loved ones’ preferences and values. It also helps take some of the burden off of you and gives you permission to ask for help later – something caregivers often struggle to do.

Focus on Manageable Tasks

If you are the person providing the most care for your older loved one, you are probably making the majority of decisions related to health, medical care, finances, housing, social engagement, recreation, nutrition… the list goes on.

If you try to focus on all of that at once, it might seem impossible to accomplish anything.