A couple of weeks ago I walked into the Office of University Advancement in Sadler Hall

and left a check to be recorded as a tax-deductable gift to the TCU Retir-ees’ Association. I would be grateful if you would consider doing the same.

Over the past several years there has been considerable discussion among the members of the executive council about how best to fund our organiza-tion. For the time being at least, we receive money from the University and that has been adequate for meeting our monthly expenses, such as helping to underwrite the cost of our luncheons, printing and mailing for our newslet-ter and other publications, honoraria for our student speakers, and travel to the biennial meeting of the Associa-tion of Retiree Organizations in Higher Education.

This year, however, we have begun to undertake some new initiatives, the most visible being the creation of our new website—www.tcura.tcu.edu. We believe this will greatly enhance our communication within the TCURA and make our work known to those at other colleges and universities across the country. This site was created

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN Stan Hagadone

More HAGADONE on P3

TCURA established 1983December, 2016 Volume 37, Number 5

Retirees’ NewsletterTCU RETIREES’ DECEMBER HOLIDAY LUNCHEON PROGRAM

Seasonal Music By Pianist

Charlene Sutton

Maximizing Your Visit To Your Physician... PAGE TWO

Tuesday, December 13, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.Dee J. Kelly Alumni

and Visitor’s Center, Room Cox C

Park in the Visitor’s Center, Lot 6, unless it is full. Alternate parking in the park-ing garage between the Kelly Center and Ranch Management buildings is available, courtesy of TCU Police. For luncheon reservations, contact Becky Roach: rroach40@yahoo.com or 817/926-8824, by Wednesday, December 7th. Reservations may now be made on

TCURA’s website, www.tcura.tcu.edu. If you have any difficulties doing this, con-tact DeVonna Tinney at d.tinney@tcu.edu. In making your reservations, please indicate dietary restrictions needed for you or anyone attending with you. Even if you are not eating, please make a reservation but a meal will not be ordered for you. If you are eating, pay $11 at the door.

The holiday program will be seasonal music played by pianist Charlene Sutton. Sutton is studying with John Owings in TCU’s doctoral program for a Musical Arts degree. In 2010. She was awarded a Master of Arts degree, with merit, in piano performance from the Royal Academy of Music in London, under the tutelage of William Fong. Sutton’s debut solo recital when she was 14 years old was at the Fourth Béla Bartók International Piano Festival in Lima, Peru. Her career began then and she has played both solo recitals and concerto performances in the USA, South America and Europe.

This is the final meeting for the year. The first meeting of 2017 is January 24.

This month I wanted to give some tips concerning your visit to your doctor’s office. Whether

you are seeing your primary physician, a specialist, or the physician’s assistant or nurse practitioner, the same basic prin-ciples apply. Therefore I will refer to physician, but you can apply the advice to all of your healthcare providers and settings.

1) Be prepared: In today’s health-care environment, visits are often short and therefore anything you can do to facilitate the efficiency of the visit will be appreciated by your doctor and his/her staff and will also help you have a better quality visit. You may want to have a family member or caregiver help you with some of these things.

a. Organize your concerns ahead of time. Make a list of the questions you want to ask, write them down, and prioritize them. You might want to type them out and have a copy for the doctor and one for yourself to refer to.

Ask yourself, why am I going to the doctor today? What am I most worried about?

b. Provide a list of Medications: I have found it helpful to keep a list of all of my medications and doses in my computer and to update it when medi-cations or doses change. In this same document, I list medications I have taken in the past and any adverse reac-tions I may have had.

c. Keep a full medical history which is up to date: Consider making a document in your computer that has all of your medical history in it including history of surgeries and hospitalization, medications, allergies, immunizations (with dates), and your family history. Also be sure to list any other physicians or other professionals you are seeing (e.g. chiropractors, therapists). I have

such a document in my computer but I only print out the relevant pages. If I have a new patient visit with a consul-tant, I may take all of the pages. I think the office staff and doctor appreciate having a legible, typed document rather than my attempting to fill in all the details on the form they send me. I just make sure I have also answered all of the questions on their form.

d. Share information on Advance Directives: it is really important to think about your goals for medical care, end of life care, and resources and needs related to those as you age. What is an acceptable outcome for you of medical procedures or a hospitalization? As you think about your goals you should also consider completing advance directives such as the Directive to Physicians, Family and Surrogates (Texas’ living will) and a Medical Power of Attorney document (appointing someone you trust to make medical decisions for you if you are unable to do so).

e. It is ok to let your doctor know if you are under significant stress—for example, if you are the caregiver of a dementia patient. Your doctor can often refer you to resources in the community which will help you and it will also help your doctor understand why your blood pressure might be up, for example.

f. Benefits and Burdens: If you are seeing the doctor to consider whether or not to have a surgery or start a new medication regimen, it is definitely ok

to ask about the expected benefits and also side effects of treatment. If these are things you want to discuss, put them on the list (a). It is better to bring things up at the beginning of an appointment than to wait until the doctor thinks the appointment if over and THEN ask “by the way”.

2) Be Polite: Remember the doctor and staff are under stress also. It will really make their day and create a better relationship if you thank them or ask what you can do to help (e.g. if you are bringing a family member to the office). It usually causes more harm than good to get angry. If you have a complaint, please make the complaint through the proper channels and when you are not upset.

3) For Family Members and Care-givers:

a. You can help get your loved one organized for the visit—including either making an up to date medication list of ALL medications (not just the ones prescribed by the doctor being visited) or just bringing them all along. It is im-portant for doctors to know about all of the prescription AND over the counter medications being taken to evaluate for drug interactions and side effects.

b. Verify that the doctor knows about all of the other doctors who are seeing the patient.

c. Plan to be in the room: Espe-cially if the patient is beginning to have memory problems, it will be helpful for you to be in the room for the visit to ei-ther validate or correct what the patient says. Think about the concerns YOU have, what changes you have seen in behavior or eating or the ability to walk, for example.

You need to know that the HIPAA

2 December 2016 TCU Retirees’ Newsletter

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Maximizing Your Visit To Your Physician

HEALTH HELP NOWby Kendra Belfi, MD

(privacy laws) restrict the physician from giving information to you unless the patient has signed a release naming you as someone he can speak with but there are no restrictions on YOUR sup-plying information to the physician.

My experience with patients with early dementia is that they could often really pull themselves together for a brief office visit and appear to be func-tioning very well—but you may know that the patient can no longer figure out how to fix a simple meal and therefore is not eating well, or that you have discov-ered bills have not been paid. These are important facts for the doctor to know in order to treat the patient optimally.

4) Signs of Caregiver Burnout: Remember that YOU cannot help your loved one if you become ill yourself or

suffer from burnout. A good resource is a self-assessment tool which you can find on the HealthinAging.org website: http://www.healthinaging.org/resources/resource:caregiver-self-assessment/

If you are having trouble concentrat-ing, difficulty making decisions, feel overwhelmed or lonely, or perhaps feel that you no longer have any privacy or personal time, you may be on the edge of burnout. Is your sleep being dis-turbed by caregiving? Are you having crying spells? Do you feel edgy or ir-ritable? If any of these are issues, please consider doing the self-assessment and letting your physician know the prob-lems you are having.

n n n n

NOTE: Apologies for the error in the November Newsletter attributing the article on Medicare to Dr. Belfi. The author was Carolyn Cagle.

December 2016 TCU Retirees’ Newsletter 3

VISIT from P2 Here Is A Function You MayWant To Attend

Both Dr. Belfi and Dr. Reinecke recom-mend a meeting that might interest TCURA members. It is a half-day course on improv-ing the delivery of health care Saturday, February 11, 2017, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p. m. UNT Health Science Center, Medical Education & Training Building. The title is: Healthcare in a Civil Society: Improving the Health of Populations. The topic targets the health of popula-tions by looking at how local community leaders, health care practitioners, govern-ment, medical educators and hospital systems can work together to make FortWorth a healthier place in which to live and work. If you are interested, contact either of them for more information. m.reinecke@tcu.edu; kjbelfi@sbcglobal.net

professionally and will be professionally main-tained.

What is an appropriate donation? If we have one hundred persons give $100.00 each that would be $10,000, which would be adequate for our purposes. Some of course will want to give more; others will out of necessity give less. The main thing is that we all pitch in together to do what we can on behalf of our organization.

And if you don’t want to make a special trip to Sadler Hall, you can write your check to TCU University Advancement, note on the memo at the bottom “For the TCU Retirees’ Associa-tion,” and mail it to Texas Christian University, Attention: Office of Loyalty Giving, TCU Box 297440, Fort Worth, TX 76129. The names of those who give will remain confidential, but we will receive a report of the number of gifts we receive as well as the total amount received each month. I will see that you are kept informed of our progress.

Thank you in advance for what I trust will be a generous response.

HAGADONE from P2

Just under our TCU Retirees Association logo at the top of our homepage it says “STAYING CONNECTED WITH EACH OTHER AND TO TCU.” This has never been easier, now that we have our website, in addition to our growing number of activi-ties and events. Communication is key for staying connected, and now we can all use the website to communicate. The “Programs and Events” link allows us to view upcoming activities, and to make reservations when RSVPs are needed. You’ll also find all of our past newsletters there. The “Join/Update Contact Informa-tion” link takes you to a quick

form for making changes to your email, street address, or phone numbers. And soon, we will add a Directory to the website so that we can look up fellow members and contact one another. The directory will be password-pro-tected so that while the website is public, the directory will be private. We’ll be informing you about the password as we near completion of the directory. Its accuracy and usefulness will depend on you, to keep your con-tact information current. Please enjoy BEING CONNECTED by visiting the website: http://www.tcura.tcu.edu/.

A note from Judy Groulx, “list master” for the Membership Committee

TCURA.TCU.EDU

The next meeting of this special interest group is Wednesday, January 11, 2017. The book is A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.

Becky Hartman will review the book. This group meets at 10 a.m. in the Library of Uni-

versity Christian Church.All TCU retirees are welcome and come whether

you have read the book or not. For more information, call Judy Smith at 817-921-4708.

Coffee, Books & Conversation

Academic Calendarn Fall Commencement is Saturday, Dec. 17, in the Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena at 9 a.m. for AddRan, Fine Art, Business and University Programs. Then beginning at 2 p.m. ceremo-nies will be held for Brite, Communication, Education, Science & Engineering and Harris College. A reception for all graduates and their families will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Brown-Lupton University Union.n TCU’s spring semester starts January 17, 2017.n Spring recess is March 10-20.

Gregg Edward FranzwaOctober 28, 2016

The professor of philosophy taught at TCU for 35 years, from 1976 until August 2011.

The only “obituary” given is this: “Dr. Gregg Edward Franzwa...passed away peace-fully on Friday, October 28. He passed surrounded by broken- hearted women begging him not to leave, just as he would have wanted.”

Bobby Jack FryeMay 22, 1939 - November 2, 2016

The west Texas native from Plainview was known for his homegrown traits of integrity, faith, hard work and humility.

Frye received many awards throughout his teaching ca-reer, validated at TCU where his students cherished the time and effort he spent reading and marking their papers, often with insightful observations and sug-gestions.

His “colleagues” reached well beyond his discipline to throughout the campus where he was respected for his service to many committees and univer-sity efforts.

Although Frye retired from TCU in 2003, he continued to teach occasionally through 2010.

IN MEMORIAM

4 December 2016 TCU Retirees’ Newsletter

OfficersPresident Stan Hagadone972-393-8688214-893-7551 cellj.hagadone@tcu.edu

Vice President Larry Adams817-926-7314l.adams@tcu.edu

SecretaryDonna Johnson817-927-4620 d.m.johnson@tcu.edu

Treasurer Victor Belfi817-923-2450v.belfi@tcu.edu

TCU Retirees’ Association Board of Directors 2016-2017

Past President Kirk Downey972-863-3628 or214-632-0317k.downey@tcu.edu

Other members ofthe Executive CouncilUCAC representativeEmily Burgwyn817-688-1719e.burgwyn@tcu.edu

Membership ChairJanet George Herald817-924-1331jgherald@gmail.com

Communications ChairDeVonna Tinney817-294-5044d.tinney@tcu.edu

Health and Wellness ChairManfred Reinecke817-257-6204m.reinecke@tcu.edu

Representatives-at-LargeArchivist Phyllis Allen817-423-3719p.allen@tcu.edu

ColumnistCarolyn Cagle682-552-2130.c.cagle@tcu.edu

Membership List MasterJudy Groulx817-366-5333j.groulx@tcu.edu

Will Stallworth817-346-8485w.stallworth@tcu.edu

TCURA email address: TCURA@tcu.edu

Newsletter Doug Newsom, Editor817.732.2901 d.newsom@tcu.edu Broc Sears, DesignerDept. of Strategic Communication Bob Schieffer College of Communication817.257.5052 b.sears@tcu.edu

MISSION STATEMENT

The Texas Christian University Retirees’ Association exists to provide opportuni-ties for fellowship, to promote lifelong learning, to advocate for fair benefits, to recognize the accomplishments of its members, and to strengthen the relationship between the retirees and the University.

NOTEIf you do not wish to continue receiv-ing this newsletter notify the newslet-ter editor or any of the others listed as contacts here.Thank you