HOPE Foundation Newsletter December 2021

Posted by on 22 December 2021

It’s time to look forward positively after a year of upset and disruption

SEASON’S GREETINGS, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year to everyone.

It has been another uncertain and unsettling year with the ever- present news and threat from Covid in the background. This time of the year is a time to look forward and recognise some of the positive things we have achieved. The overall vaccination rate against Covid is truly remarkable and while we want every last person to have been vaccinated, NZ has one of the highest rates in the world. Many are now eligible for the third booster shot, so get this done without delay.

Aucklanders are now looking forward to meeting family and friends and leaving the city (carefully). The prospects of opening the borders are closer. The lockdown has brought unexpected pleasures – growing a garden, finding new uncrowded parks, getting to know the neighbours, and more local exercise. I have been really enjoying finding new cycle paths to wobble down. Home cooked meals are likely to be better for us all. The rush and stuff of life is not so important.

While Covid has restricted the HOPE Foundation’s fundraising and social activities, we have run a well- attended “Knowledge Exchange“ or meeting where our researchers presented their work. This was run virtually but the enthusiasm and range of topics was impressive, despite not being ‘face to face’. It is heartening to see the number of researchers and expertise grow. This fulfils one of our key missions.

We have continued to fund PhD and Masters Students throughout the year and have awarded our first small project grant this year. The purpose of this is to allow established researchers to do a small pilot project or complete a particular task. All these researchers need to be congratulated for continuing on in circumstances that have been very trying.

During the year we have lost two valuable Friends – Jack Yates and Elizabeth Rackley. Our sympathy goes out to Karen and Roley and their families.

Thank you to Karen and her team for organising our social functions – sadly they were “locked down” but the work still needs to be acknowledged!

Looking forward to the New Year, The HOPE Foundation still needs ongoing support. Share the newsletter with family . See if you can recruit a new Friend, see if anyone is interested in being on the mailing list. If you or others you know can help, please get in touch, we would love to hear from you.

Other opportunities are

1     Sponsoring a student $6000 pa

2     Sponsoring the newsletter

3     Funding the website

4     Donations are always welcome

5     Consider a bequest

I hope you all enjoy connecting up over the Christmas and New Year Break and start 2022 with a renewed sense of vigour.

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FRIENDS OF THE HOPE FOUNDATION

A recipe for healthy entertaining

IT IS nearly Christmas, and we will be allowed to entertain our family and friends within our homes. That is something to look forward to, after our exceedingly long lockdown.

I asked Linda Snell, a member of our Friends Committee to provide a recipe for Christmas nibbles. Linda has a vast knowledge of food and catering, and she organises the Friends Committee’s delicious finger foods that we serve at our functions.

Linda assures me that this recipe is a “will disappear first” when served at a function. The recipe not only calls for the easy home-made dip but fresh colourful crunchy vegetables to serve with it.

What could be better?

Round Bread Dip

1 Round Loaf
250 gr cream cheese
1 cup of grated cheese - whatever you like
1 onion (chopped finely) 1 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp crushed garlic
1 tin (415 gr) pink salmon
4 leaves of spinach or silver beet (chopped)

Cut top off bread (save). Scoop out middle of bread (save to place around serving plate) or freeze for stuffing in chickens.

Mix all other ingredients together and fill middle of bread- put top of bread back on. Wrap bread in tin foil and bake in a 180 degrees C oven for 1 hr.

Take bread out of tin foil immediately it is cooked. Take top off (this can be cut in half and placed each side of bread with sprigs of parsley. You can eat the whole of this round bread dip. Serve with carrots, celery, broccoli, bread, biscuits, and chips etc. There should be nothing left as it is so yummy.

Another suggestion is a simple platter of finger- nibbling ingredients.
 
There is no cooking involved, just arrange on a platter. So inviting and so easy.

The Friends Committee wish you a very Happy Christmas and we look forward to meeting with you at a HOPE Foundation function in 2022, when it is safe to do so.

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Vale Elizabeth Rackley

It is with sadness in our hearts that we announce the passing of Elizabeth Rackley on August 15th 2021.

She was a dedicated and committed member of the Friends Committee since 2015. She quietly contributed her time and support to our fundraisers. We will miss her.

Our thoughts and love go out to Roley.

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2021 Queen’s Birthday Honour for David Richmond

DAVID RICHMOND was made a companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours, an award he richly deserved with his illustrious career in both Medicine and Theological education, holding many prestigious roles both nationally and internationally.

But perhaps his most altruistic achievement was in his retirement, establishing the HOPE Foundation for Research on Ageing, which has provided over 150 University scholarships since 1994. Without his vision and sheer determination to make it happen, this would not have been possible.

“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future”
– Franklin D Roosevelt

A thought from David on his own ageing journey . . .

During the course of last year’s mid-year “Christmas Dinner”, l, along with about 200 of my fellow licensed to occupy retirees were waiting for the dessert to arrive.

The ambient noise level was overwhelmingly high when I become the recipient of an unexpected revelation.

lt suddenly struck me that for the 40 years I had spent in caring for unwell older people, devising ways to assess their needs, and teaching a younger generation of doctors the hard-won ‘tricks of the trade’, all this had been done in a sense, from the perspective of an ‘observer’ – one who stands aside from his field of interest the better to act and evaluate in an objective way. But now, here I am, a pensioner, a health consumer, subject to the evaluation of others. I am now “inside” looking “out” as it were. How’s that going to work out? Time will tell. Putting one’s weight behind our resident ENT man’s moves to get the auditorium’s acoustics fixed would be a good way to start!

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Ronnie Gardiner Method expanding in New Zealand

YOU MAY remember the HOPE Foundation spon sored the visit of Ronnie Gardiner to New Zealand in 2018 and 2019.

He is a Jazz Musician who developed a fun, activity programme for neurorehabilitation which is proven to help those with multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and stroke and is now also useful for healthy ageing. While on tour here he taught several classes to train Ronnie Gardiner Method (RGM) practitioners and gave demonstration lectures. The RGM movement began in Norway, travelled to the Netherlands where it thrives, and is also starting in Greece, and the United Kingdom.

RGM is like learning a new language; when you first start out the vocabulary is unfamiliar and strange but with practice it becomes familiar, and you’ll soon be able to comfortably recognise and understand the RGM names and symbols. Set to music, the exercise patterns are good for balance and strength, reaction times and concentration.

After a delay due to the COVID19 restrictions here in New Zealand, with the help of the Joyce Cook Family Foundation we have launched a website to enable interested people to find out about RGM, find an RGM practitioner (there are practitioners in Auckland and Christhurch). Please look up the site if anyone would like to try a class, or to consider training as a practitioner. We are now enrolling for the introductory course training: -

Auckland on 12 & 13 February 2022 at the Epsom Campus of the University of Auckland.

Christhurch on 19 & 20 March 2022at the Age Concern Offices in Papanui

And we hope to follow these classes with a Ground Course to graduate fully trained practitioners. Have a look at the Website and keep an eye out for RGM action.

Thanks to Our Sponsors The Douglas Goodfellow Charitable Trust Our Major Sponsor Other Sponsors Include: Agnes Hope Day Trust Bollard Charitable Trust Jogia Charitable Trust St Andrew’sVillage The Kelliher Charitable Trust Friends of the HOPE Foundation

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Hope Summer Student Scholarships 2021/2022

These scholarships are awarded to support high achieving University students to do an ageing focused research project over the 10 week summer break. The aim is not only to achieve high quality worthwhile research, but also to enable these students to gain valuable skills, by working with experienced researchers, who supervise these projects. Due to the generosity of our sponsors, we have been able to award four Summer Scholarships

Komal Rana - University of Auckland

Ways in which soundscapes can help people value and accept their hearing abilities.

This summer research project explores the ways in which soundscapes can help people value and accept their hearing abilities.

People with hearing difficulties often face strenuous experiences navigating their surroundings as it can be a very taxing venture.

I will be employing a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods to explore the influence of different soundscapes upon one’s auditory experience.

My research will explore ways in which people with a range of different hearing abilities can value their hearing by encouraging mindfulness, evoking acceptance, and appreciation for their auditory experiences.

I am looking forward to putting my theoretical knowledge of health research into practice with this research project. I think this experience will grant me greater insight into the importance of research and how it furthers our understanding of health and wellbeing.

I have a natural fascination with how our psyche and mindset can alter our perception of our surroundings; this project will further my interest and understanding of this phenomenon.

 I am extremely thankful and grateful to the HOPE Foundation for this opportunity and for allowing me to take part in this research.

Manvis Wong - University of Auckland

Potentially inappropriate medication prescribing among older adults in the hospital setting

My name is Manvis Wong, and I am one of the 2021 Summer Research Students who has received a Summer Scholarship from the HOPE Foundation.

Older adults tend to have higher rates of long-term conditions and therefore, are more likely to be prescribed concurrent multiple medications.

Subsequent polypharmacy and potentially inappropriate prescribing can result in a greater risk of adverse health outcomes such as falls and fractures, increased visits to the emergency department with hospitalisations and poor adherence to treatment and quality of life outcomes.

In New Zealand, research into medication errors and appropriateness of prescribing, has been focused on population-level data and patients in primary or long-term care settings. There has been less research in hospitalised patients particularly older adults, where the frequency and nature of prescribing errors may be different. 

With the generous support of the HOPE Foundation, this summer research project aims to investigate the prevalence and nature of potentially inappropriate prescribing among older adults in the hospital setting. The future of pharmacy and the expanding role of pharmacists are topics that I am extremely passionate about.

I hope that the knowledge and skills that I gain from this opportunity will be beneficial in my future career as a medicine expert to best support clinicians in safely stopping medications that are no longer needed in older patients. 

James Davies - University of Otago

The Reliability of remote assessment of fall risk using telehealth in people with Parkinson’s Disease

This summer, I will be studying the reliability of remote assessment of fall risk using telehealth in people with Parkinson’s Disease.

Parkinson’s is a debilitating disease characterised by movement disorders that increase a person’s risk of falling, eventually leading to loss of all independence. Usually, an allied-health professional can easily carry out fall risk assessments in person.

However, with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare access has been severely reduced. Hence, the development of effective remote assessment techniques is pertinent.

I truly believe this has the potential to improve access, and I am grateful that my research might be helpful.

Mathew Shuen MSRS - Otago University

Exploring individual response to high-intensity interval training in middle-aged adults with pre-sarcopenia, a secondary data-analysis

I am a MBChB student going into my third year at the University of Otago. It has always been my aspiration to enter research, specifically in an ageing-related discipline, concurrently with my medical degree.

My summer project entails a secondary statistical analysis and discussion on the response to high-intensity interval training in middle-aged adults with pre-sarcopenia.

Pre-sarcopenia is defined as low muscle mass without corresponding functional decline and is prevalent in middle-aged adults due to its progressive nature. A lack of consistent exercise through adulthood has been shown to be a risk factor for (pre-)sarcopenia.

The knock-on effects of sarcopenia and frailty in the ageing population, as with many prevalent chronic health conditions, has consequences for increasing healthcare costs and community disease burden.

Exercise interventions have been shown to be relatively successful in treating sarcopenia, which could be due to the heterogeneous physiological responses to exercise. It is therefore important to properly understand the underlying differences in baseline characteristics that could predict the response to exercise. This will improve our understanding of the effects of exercise interventions on pre-sarcopenia and sarcopenia prevention and management.

Using modified Brinley plots, I will explore inter-individual response and heterogeneity in physiological response to high intensity aerobic and resistance training (HIART) in middle-aged (aged between 40 and 50 years) adults with pre-sarcopenia. This is accompanied by introductory practical learning in the Bone and Body-Composition Research Unit.

I was delighted to be offered the HOPE foundation scholarship for this project.

I am also grateful to be able to work alongside my supervisors Dr. Debra Waters, Dr. Lara Vlietstra, and Dr. Kim Meredith-Jones, who have been very supportive these past few months.

Support the HOPE Foundation and help us to keep funding this important research