Hour 2: How staying socially connected and physically active can keep life fun

0:00That's right folks Riverside Drive is if you take that power boulevard exit off the itan as you head west and as soon as you get off and you look to your right and you're going to see the East Jefferson YMCA facility there beautiful facility it's got a lot to offer here and that's what today's show is all about is making you aware of these opportunities so for example if you're participating in a Medicare Advantage plan it very well may be that you will offer significant discounts or even free membership at a facility like this in order to maintain that healthy life healthy aging so to speak and these are great opportunities for folks and you've heard me say this over and over again I love coming out here because everybody's smiling I mean it's a beautiful place they're all excited you know about coming in and exercising and taking advantage of this incredible facility here swimming pool outside they said they had a wonderful

1:03summer because so many dry days this summer and so many opportunities or folks to learn how to swim and other activities water aerobics you know this that a lot of different things going on here and a lot of different activities as well and we do know that Americans today are living longer and healthier lives is more important now than maybe ever before and getting older sometimes comes with challenges and changes and as we said just a minute ago this is all about an opportunity to take advantage of a facility that helps through that process both with your body your mind classes that are given here educational classes that are giving here as well and tips every day and interactions here every day as well and joining us now is Dr. Joseph Rameato who joins us from primary care plus primary care plus has a partnership with the East Jefferson YMCA and it's a really strong healthy partnership one that they all

2:07enjoy and I got had an opportunity to talk to Dr. Joseph Rameato two years ago right now what I did not know folks was that he comes to us from Philadelphia and when I asked him about whether or not he's a Saints fan he was conflicted right away he says Saints fan on the days that they don't play the Philadelphia Eagles and he says this year thankfully there's not going to be this conflict doc that was a very disappointing response I just want to but you're true you're true to your home your home team where you grew up and I guess you know they they got a part of you and we got a part of you so it's not so bad after all that's right that's right so doc tell us about you know you're you're you move down here to you how did you end up down here let's start

3:09there yeah so I'm Philadelphia mourn I met my wife in college in Philadelphia and she's from down here so after we graduated she she brought me on down with her and I've been here ever since and you're never gonna leave you know that about women that grew up south of the I-10 you're going nowhere dude you're staying right here it's it's a it's a wonderful place to be trapped I'll say that yeah absolutely yep so I came down here I did some some extra you know college down here and then I did LSU for medical school and then LSU for residency family medicine down here and it's been fantastic every year so you are an LSU fan of course of course so what drew you to primary care plus primary care plus is a fantastic place for to work and to go for care we focus on quality over quantity I'm given an immense amount of time with each patient to focus on

4:13all their needs all their care needs they can ask questions I can provide the information my goals for every patient to not feel rushed and feel like they got true complete care at every visit and primary care plus just facilitates that it's been fantastic duck how long have you been practicing medicine this will be my sixth year now and is that right no fifth year fifth year now right and it's it's been great residency down here at LSU was intense but excellent training and then primary care plus has been a fantastic place to continue that that work is that something that you recognized early in your education the importance of being able to spend more time with the patient yes absolutely in any point in my training I found that being able to spend time with patients ask the questions to get to the root of what brought them in to that care situation has always been useful sometimes it's not as useful for

5:18the immediate issue but it can be useful for helping them avoid health issues down the line and that's always a goal yeah it because it seems kind of an anomaly encounter to a lot of what happens and I'm sure a lot of the horror stories that you heard while in medical school and while you were doing your residency programs yeah unfortunately there are many times in in the the healthcare world where things are rushed things are missed and it it can lead to bad outcomes and so I've been privileged to be able to practice in a place where I'm given that that ample opportunity to really help my patient absolutely for you when we talk about healthy aging what does that mean to you and because there is a little bit of a personal touch and feeling about this right I would consider healthy aging to be taking the time and the effort and energy to establish habits so that you can live the best version of life

6:21every year and so it has to be proactive you have to make those decisions to establish those habits and stick to them and barring you know unforeseen circumstances they can usually really bring you into a long time in the future where you're you're able to live the life you want it's really a lot about minimizing risk right I mean it there's no guarantee there is no guarantee in life right but it is about minimizing risk and we know that scientifically there's certain things that minimize risk that is 100% true there are things that we can do that reduce our risks we all we're living with our history and we're living with our genes and those things will impact us for the entirety of our lives but there's things we can do to reduce those negative impacts and improve the positive impacts of those histories and those genes so things like sleep diet exercise they're all core to minimizing those risks what is the one thing

7:21that you think your patients don't realize have such a contributing factor to their health you just mentioned sleep sleep a lot of people don't really make that connection for the most part sleep is probably one of the most important things to our health seven to nine hours that's that's the goal that should be all our target throughout our life the benefits are really hard to understate everything from hormone balance cognitive care good sleep can reduce your risk of dementia it is kind of paramount and I know that sometimes life and society and you know what we're our responsibilities can affect that but it should be a goal it should be a focus of of how you plan your life should be to gear towards that seven to nine hours yeah you know oftentimes I have to remind myself that this program or or series that I've deeply into that maybe

8:28the television at 10 o'clock at or 11 o'clock at night needs to go off yeah if you know you're gonna be up at at five in the next day yeah you got it you got a plan for that now if you live a lifestyle where you can sleep until eight then sure yeah unfortunately not what are you know we we talk about growing older and it for most people it's just not a vibrant or desired conversation to have but what are some of the just common things that we can expect I mean just you know sure as we age there are there are things that are let's say inevitable to a certain extent muscle mass decrease strength decrease gradually worsening reaction time some cognitive slowing memory those are all too some extent inevitable they can be minimized

9:32at genes do play a part in it our past history plays a part in it but yeah a little bit of forgetfulness maybe you don't remember the name of a guy you met six years ago that's to be expected maybe you can't bench press what you used to that's to be expected but it shouldn't look like severe forgetfulness we shouldn't be forgetting our brothers our sisters we shouldn't be forgetting someone we interact with every night weakness should not be a sudden inability to walk or falling frequently eggs and pains are expected you know the there's only so much tread on the tire but it shouldn't be severe it shouldn't be debilitating it shouldn't be for preventing you from moving and living your life so that's kind of the difference between expected aging and you know pathological aging I guess you could say how important is it to not hyper focus on these changes when when my patients come in that is a question I do get asked

10:36and my response is is frequently focus on all the things you can still do focus on the things that you maybe have never done and can still do express a broad in your horizons and the broader your horizons are maybe maybe the depth of what you can do is a little bit more shallow but the the broadness of the horizons might be broader than you realize and so I do try to focus on that on ability over over disability you know what's amazing to me is people that that'll take up like an instrument or this or that or do something in activity that they've never done in their life and they take it up at age 70 and by age 72 they've mastered it I mean it's absolutely amazing right I'm a huge proponent of learning a language learning an instrument in your retirement because you have the time now and those things can be truly useful for exercising the mind keeping the

11:36the fingers dexterous if you're playing an instrument there's a social component maybe you maybe a form of band maybe all those things are useful and enjoyable joy happiness is also kind of invigorating and can help you live that that longer better life absolutely when we talk you know we we focus a lot on when we talk about primary care plus about spending longer with the patient but there are other things that kind of set it apart as well right so we have a real caring dedicated support staff when you work with primary care plus and you know heavens forbid you end up in the hospital or in an emergency room we reach out to you right away we say hey is there anything we can do we'd love to get you in this as soon as possible make sure that you understand you were next steps going forward so you have the best care maybe a specialist

12:38explain something to you real fast and you didn't quite get it I want you to come in and I want to explain it to you ten times until you are making the best choices for your care going forward I find that to be very useful we focus on coming in as often as you need you want to come in every month come see me every month you're gonna come in every you know four months great if you're doing great I want to see you when you need to be seen and we focus on that as well so seeing you at your schedule at your pace and making sure you really understand your health it's kind of a mindset you know for the patient because that and I was talking talking to Dr. B earlier that kind of runs counter right to everything that that you know about the health care delivery system what's the reaction that you see with your patients I mean you're a young doctor right I mean and you're actually privileged because you've worked you're working in a model it's different I really am privileged I speak to my colleagues and and one of the things that they are

13:45kind of blown away by is how much time I get to spend with these with my patients and how often it leads to great outcomes because I'm able to explain the value of preventative care the value of proactive care and they're more willing to listen a well explained piece of advice is more likely to be followed than someone off the cuff saying make sure you eat right like no and with our with our long visits with our longer visits with our kind of more time I'm able to spend I'm able to to reach into those those good habits and help my patients establish them yeah and I guess it doesn't take the patient long to recognize nor realize that you know the value of this I have a lot of repeat repeat patients who come in and there's a lot of smiles at those visits where they just feel like they're taking care of I have patients who are referred from my other patients saying you know Mr. Zoneso said I should come see you and and I'm glad I did and I

14:51I do hear that feedback often and I'm happy every time I hear it because it means that that it's not just a show between me and them these patients are going out into the world and and bringing my my words on of advice to other to their friends and family and I appreciate that and I appreciate seeing the friends I know you guys when I have visited primary care plus facilities very much a team you sense it when you walk in in the door you know there are not many places where I've had the physician come to the waiting room and sit down and talk to people yeah if I if me coming out and and talking to someone can can help them feel taken care of then I'm happy to do it and I have done it um sometimes they are a little hesitant to have it walk with a medical assistant I'll come and walk with them just to be a friendly face because that is an easy happy enjoyable experience for me

15:53and it makes sure that they get the best care that they can you know um folks maybe listening out there says well you know this kind of all sounds a little bit hokey right but it's not because I've seen it I've seen it happen I've seen it work and I tell you what else I've seen is that when you know when we go out to one of the primary care plus centers and we set up the radio and and y'all invite your patients to come out and spend a day there they don't have an appointment they come they show up they do I mean never in my wildest dreams what I would have ever thought about going to the doctor's office to celebrate a day or you know an anniversary or whatever um and they come out by the dozens they do um and I'm happy to see them every time uh that's that's part of the primary provider relationship should be one of kind of community building where they feel

16:54accepted and taken care of and primary care pluses I felt really excellent at fostering that sense of community these patients feel happy seeing the medical medical assistance come out and they address them by name everyone gets addressed by name you know it's interesting too and we don't talk about it much and I'd love to get your reaction to this um we you know we kind of focus today's healthy aging day right but y'all's model for young adults who you know they came up through adolescent care um you know I have a lot of friends that fear doctors had had an experience that maybe that scared the bjesus out of them when they were 10 or eight or nine and they've never overcommit sure you know when you're treating 18-year-olds I got to imagine that it's a very easy thing for them much easier in in this model it it is um for my new patients for all the patient

17:58new patients for primary care plus we get an hour for our new patient visits which is tremendous for establishing rapport for finding common ground for for feeling like it's a conversation and so for an 18-year-old I can give you just a little bit of advice don't share with them that you're an eagle's fan it comes up sometimes I try to downplay it a little bit I don't wear the jerseys as often as I do yeah you still uh but uh yeah it's we are able to have that good conversation and because we're able to have that good conversation it feels more like talking with with a colleague with a friend um and that makes these 18-year-olds who I might be the first doctor they've ever been to this not a pediatrician right um this might be the first time they're making medical decisions for themselves this might be the first time where they have to communicate feeling you know bad feeling um uncomfortable and and get taken care of and um I've found that having that extra time has been has been great for establishing those relationships I do and I do have those 18-year-olds

19:01absolutely Dr. Rameeto uh final thoughts um the the we really want to establish great habits when you are in your early 65 75 range to to promote that long healthy life you want physical activity good sleep a good social life friendships are um invigorating they are gonna keep you younger longer and um eat what eat right that is that is healthy fats lean meat lots of fruits and veggies um that that's the that's the that's the keys that's tough down here you're asking for a lot that's true Dr. Rameeto thank you so much for joining us truly appreciate it uh enjoyed the conversation Dr. Joseph Rameeto with primary care plus we will be right back folks 504-260-1-870 on the open heart jullars talk and text line you got a question that you want answered send it in we'll

20:01get it asked of uh the folks that we have and when we return we'll visit with Eva Waits senior activities coordinator at the YMCA we'll be right back stay with us that's right folks we're out here at healthy aging day at the east javasin ymca on Riverside Drive you take that power boulevard exit as you're heading west and it's gonna let you out right there you look to your right and you'll see the wide and incredible facility out here and joining us now is Eva Waits senior activities coordinator programs and practical tips as well um she has maybe the funnest job out here right i do have the best job yeah i mean it's uh you get to coordinate these activities with all the folks and then they take off on their own they do they do there a lot of self-starters here right yes we just put it out there and they run with it so uh talk to us you know you work with the the folks through this healthy aging process each and every day it gives some of your thoughts

21:06your insights about that so at the Y we um you know we focus on physical activity you know which improves keeps you healthy and moving but we also focus on um a lot of other things group exercises we have we have um educational seminars lunch and learns birthday celebrations monthly lunchens and we do day trips but all of that just um combined it just goes well with not just exercising alone it builds a community where you know people love to come you see a lot of friendships like i'm looking out over the the reception area now and just people are just chatting with one another it's like they're at an you know an event but this is every day this is every day i've been here on day i've been here on days where we're not doing an event and this is what you see every day this is what you see our tables are always full they love to come and um just visit and hang out with their

22:09friends or make new friends you know it's interesting when we talk about activity um what i love about what y'all do is that it's safe here it is safe right um it's safe not only outside the facility it's safe inside the facility but one of the primary you know uh uh uh factors that it improves is that um you you guys talk about strength and balance and how that increases mobility right so if you have a home in your bedrooms upstairs you will be able to navigate that longer because of what y'all do here come and y'all keep all of that in mind working towards those goals right correct we do i mean if you have good strength balance mobility that that's really important and it's not just about your fitness but it helps keep you you know living independently being able to keep doing all

23:09the things that you enjoy doing without that would not work well and even as simple as some of the activities in fact i recall a conversation that i had i think it was two years ago with one of the folks that were here they said you know before i started coming to the why i couldn't vacuum my own home you know not even my own bedroom and they said to me now i do it all i'm up the floors i you know vacuum the rugs and it's become second nature and i have my they were struggling with balance and they said i have it back yes and you'll get it back coming here i mean like i was silver sneaker class they focus a lot on your you know strength and being able to you know maintain that balance and all and so we have that silver sneaker class several times a week we have yoga stretch we have body pump which will you know build muscle and we have aerobics classes so everything is

24:16senior based mostly during the day we have a lot of activities but it is the most important thing that you can maintain your strength and balance and what i love is that it transcends into their personal life and it allows them to live independently longer it does and we've said we've had members come in that maybe were at first in a wheelchair and they taken these classes and the next thing you know they're not in the wheelchair no more they they may be with a walker and they continue to gain that strength and they're with the cane and it's just so rewarding to see how they you know these classes help it's almost like a covert rehabilitation facility because you're actually rehabbing you know as you're going through these these fun exercises and fun activities and you recognize all of a sudden that you're able to do things you couldn't do six months ago exactly and it's it's just a reward and rewarding is that for you when you hear these stories

25:17well you're not only here you get to see it right to you i do and i just love to see them coming in and then they're just growing you know with that strength and getting that balance back so what else do you see i mean we've talked a lot with both dr. Wallace and dr. Rameeto as well as Kerry Diaz the executive director here about the mind that's my favorite subject so let's talk about that because you know you talk about the physical side but um i get the sense that there are people that may have been you know maybe a little standoffish maybe not as outward uh right maybe not an extrovert but an introvert correct their entire life and but when they were here for a while they change they go to this mental board for sure yeah this place will change you i mean i think

26:18working well not just doing physical activities but working your mind and all i think that's important good for mental health it um it's just it's an important thing and we do a lot to build on that you know we have our group activities and then the um um it prevents isolation loneliness all of that now i uh think last year i talked to a stroke victim that was he could give a member correctly and i'm sure y'all have a lot of folks that had suffered a mild stroke or something and they were trying to get certain things back and and the observation was uh you know some of the exercises they're doing would uh i don't know if you mentioned board games or something along those lines and some activities that they were doing he said helped him immensely thought it was thought it was a joke at first and didn't even recognize

27:19that he was improving all along right the games that we play we have on Mondays at noon we have we call it game time it was formerly brain games which you don't even realize you are using your brain for these games i mean we play a lot of fun games we do scrabble at least once a month we try to do word game numbers games um building like sequence games different things like that and you know you know they're just so fun in our room is packed we can run anywhere from 10 to 20 people to join us and they just have a lot of fun it brings you know new friendships laughter we make sweet memories but what's interesting is and i and you correct me if i'm wrong they they don't really weren't connected in the dots that this was going to help them improve correct and then as they look back they say oh my god what a difference correct we have a gentleman that um he i think it was a heart attack that he had had and he came back you know to do his physical activities and all

28:23and we have a book club that we meet once a month so he started the book club and he always brings so much to it to the table with that you know like whatever questions i present to them he always has something to build on and he says that time and time again that without you know coming back to the y and finding the extra activities besides the physical he may not be where he is yeah and that's going to be incredibly rewarding when you see that progress that's made it is it is because i guess one of the first folks that they meet is you right me or one of the other directors that are yeah so but yeah we always point them out to our table where all of our flyers are and you know we let them know what we have going on each month we have that newsletter that goes out monthly and um then we keep the flyers full for them to know everything you know i walked into the uh the weight room area earlier which is huge by the way um

29:26and um i used to take it relatively seriously myself at one point in time and it's amazing how many folks that are uh in of that senior age that there are on those free weights they take it serious they do take it serious and they're very committed to their physical exercise classes i mean they let me know in the beginning don't schedule a social activity during their their um physical fitness class because they just assumed chopped my head off they were not happening we get more demanding as we get older right maybe just a little well even weights thank you so much for joining us we truly appreciate it thank you thank you for having us coordinated here at the white mca folks come on by it's on riverside drive um you can't miss it 66 91 it's a great facility and if you're part of a Medicare Advantage plan you

30:26may get a free membership and maybe part of that plan or at least a reduction in price or something come on by got nothing to lose i think you're gonna love it here for sure we'll be right back stay with us come on by and say hello folks we're at 66 91 Riverside drive the east Jefferson ymca coming and joy some lunch with us check out the programs here as i was mentioning earlier if you're part of a Medicare Advantage plan one of the benefits may include um membership here at the y a lot of folks that are members here are here as a result of their membership in a Medicare Advantage plan so you want to think about that you got nothing to lose it could be that the membership fee is covered by your plan and therefore free and they have a lot of information here as well for for folks and talking about a healthy aging day here at the east Jefferson ymca

31:29all right folks just another reminder if um today at four p.m. on sports talk with Steve Geller and Jeff Noah the latest Saints news from practice as the black and gold gear up for Sunday in Detroit plus get this week's best bets in college in NFL football from gbi wins dot com handicap or Michael westwood at five twenty five joined the fantasy frenzy at six twenty five call in with your week one roster questions for roto re analyst jope artel then at seven thursday night football from australia between the la rams and the san francisco forty-nineers on w wl and the audice at stay with this will be right back folks folks we come back after the top of the hour news break we will visit with lois chardon uh senior member here at the y we'll talk about her personal experience her perspective how this place has been able to accommodate her and whether or not they're meeting her

32:35expectations so stay with this will be right back